The Urban Alternative - Tony Evans

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Any purpose other than God's purpose.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
God does not obligate himself to you out there on
your own.

Speaker 3 (00:05):
Doctor Tony Evans says, connecting our prayers with the Lord's
agenda is the key to finding answers.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
So the question is do we want to spin our
wheels or do we want to make a connection.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless Biblical teachings
from the archives of doctor Tony Evans. God answers prayers,
all prayers, but today doctor Evans talks specifically about the
ones God answers with a yes, let's join him.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
As he explains, but today I want to talk to
you about connecting prayer with God's purposes, maybe the most
important connection of all. What is prayer? One might simply
define it as relational communication with God. It is the
divinely authorized means by which the natural next with the supernatural,

(01:02):
and the supernatural connects with the natural, and it is
God's only authorized means of contact. In order to understand this,
you have to understand.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Something that God did.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
God operated in the spiritual realm with angels, but then
he created man and put him in the physical realm.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
And then guess what God said, he said, let them rule.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
I want man to act in the physical realm on
my behalf from the spiritual realm. And so what I'm
going to do is I'm going to develop a communication
system by which they can link with me in order
for them to do in time what I'm wanting to

(01:52):
be done from eternity. So prayer is not some sort
of casual mind undane exercise that.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
You throw in before you eat.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
It was meant to be this mechanism of bringing heavenly involvement.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
Into historical context.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
The problem that I'm hearing you say, although you're not
yet verbally speaking, is but I pray and nothing happens.
John says in one John five, verse thirteen. I have
written these things to you who believe in the name
of the Son of God, that you might know that
you have eternal life?

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Is that what he says in verse thirteen? Okay, watch
this now?

Speaker 2 (02:41):
He says, I have written that you might believe in
order that you might know.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Did I get that right?

Speaker 2 (02:50):
I have written so that you might believe, with the
result that you know you know what, you know, you
have eternal life. You know you're saved because you believe.
But what did you believe what was written. You believe
what was written. Therefore you know you have eternal life.

(03:11):
You say, but I thought you were gonna talk to
me about prayer. You gotta go to verse fourteen. He
says to those who know their saved these words in
verse fourteen. He wants you, in your salvation to make
a connection. And we know it's gonna be done with
some of you, but stick with me. He wants you

(03:32):
to make the connection. And this is the confidence we
have before him that if we ask anything according to
his will, he hears us.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
And what is the result of that verse fifteen.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
And if we know that he hears us, and whatever
we ask, we know we have the request which we
have asked of him.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
So guess what he's saying. Just like you know, yes,
saved because you believe.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
What was written, you ought to know you're gonna get
an answer because you believe based on.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
What is written. Let me say it another way.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
The same assurance you have about going to heaven, you
should also have about answered prayer.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
You aught to raise your hand and say, I know
I'm getting miss with.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Prayer is a way where God has given you an
eye the privilege of participating in the divine realm by
making human contact. Okay, then how do I get to
know that my prayers are gonna be answered? Same way

(04:46):
you know you have eternal life. You believe in the name.
That is, you got to believe in the name. Now,
let me tell you what I didn't just said, and
what John doesn't say.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
He didn't say, use the name.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Everybody inns their prayers in Jesus' name.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
That's using the name. Okay. He is not saying you
will know that you have your answer.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
To your prayers because you tag on a tagline at
the end of your prayers and you say, well.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
Give me this, give me this, give me this, give
me this, give me this, give me this.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
Do this, do that, do that in Jesus' name. That's
a tagline. Just like you can't use the name of
Jesus to get to heaven. A lot of folks use
his name, will never go to heaven. You got to
believe in his name in order to go to heaven.
That is, you must place trust.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
In his name.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
The problem is we use Jesus's name while extracting out
of it what it represents. Therefore, we use it powerless.
Lee it's tagged on without meaning. I would like to
suggest to you now that the reason why more of

(06:11):
us are not experiencing answered prayer is because of the
misuse of his name. Look at John fourteen, Thank John
verse thirteen. Notice what he says, And whatever you ask
in my name, that I will do that the Father
may be glorified in the son. And if you ask

(06:33):
anything in my name, what I will do it. If
you want to get a response from my Daddy, you've
got to do it in my name.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
So what's in a name?

Speaker 2 (06:49):
In the Bible, The word name represents the substance of
a thing. It's not nomenclya. It's not just oh, that's
a cute name, let me give him that name. That's
why meanings of names are given in the Bible so often,
because names related to substance. So in order to use
a name correctly, you had to use it legitimately with

(07:11):
the substance that was behind the name, and the name
had to endorse what you were using it for.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
Power of attorney.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
The power of attorney is where you give somebody the
right to use your name, You give them the right
to act on your behalf, on behalf of your name
in your name.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
They can do this because you've handed that authority over.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
It's not your authority, it's their authority.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
But they have given it to you to use. But
it's easy to misuse a name.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
To put it another way, when you go before God,
you need to show ID. When you go before the
airport and they say, show me your ID, we want
to know who you say you are is who you
really are, So show us a picture ID. You need
ID in order to go back here to this gate.
You've got to be authorized. The father always authorizes the son,

(08:16):
and the son always authorizes children who are carrying his ID.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
Who has his name, So.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
It is asking based on the authority of Jesus Christ.
Prayer is that point of connection. Then how do I
get his name to work? He tells you in First John,
chapter five, verse fourteen. And this is the confidence we

(08:49):
have before him that if we ask anything, how many things?
And I think anything means anything. There are no exceptions
to the word anything. If we ask anything here, it
is according to his will. Now you know what he
means by name, what he means by believing in his

(09:13):
name when it comes to prayer, is making your request
in concert with his will. Okay, so now where do
I discover his will? That becomes a question where do
I find out what his will is? Let's go back
to verse thirteen, and it is written that anyone who

(09:37):
believes in the name of the Son of God will
know the Bible is the revealed will of God, meaning
it tells you what God wants universally. So in whatever
issue you're dealing with life, you want to ask the question,
has God said something about this? What has he said

(10:00):
that gives me the revealed will? But that doesn't solve
our problem because everything that God wants to do to us,
for us and about us is not written in the Bible.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
Now watch this.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
Now, you became intimate with the Savior because you got saved,
you accepted Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
Once you're straight with the written word, then what God
does is apply.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
The written word to your personal situation. He personalizes it.
That's the job of the Holy Spirit. By the way, folks,
the Holy Spirit, the Bible says, has been shed abroad
in our hearts.

Speaker 1 (10:40):
Why is he.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
There to be a witness to the written word in
your daily life?

Speaker 1 (10:48):
His job is to apply.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
It to your name, which may be different than how
he applies it to somebody else. That's why the Holy
Spirit is such a powerful being in your Christian life,
because his job is to let has hit it highlighted
for you. You know a highlighter. Well, you know, you go
over something now it jumps out at you. His job
is to apply the word in your daily situations.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
How did you do it? He does it by your relationship.

Speaker 3 (11:18):
When Doctor Evans returns in a moment, he'll share a
powerful principle that'll help you begin seeing answers to your prayers.

Speaker 4 (11:26):
Don't go away, Hey, ladies, It's time to gather your friends,
small group, or all the women of your church for
a soul fulfilling, faith awakening time with the Lord. Join
us virtually for the Desperate for Jesus Conference this July
twenty fifth and twenty sixth. Get ready to worship and
hear powerful teaching from Crystal Hurst, Priscilla Shier and their
special guests. Don't miss this chance to be refreshed as

(11:48):
you grow spiritually. Hurry over to dfjconference dot com to
register for the live simulcast that's Dfjconference dot com.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
The message you're hearing today is part of Tony's power
powerful compilation of sermons on the power of prayer. Across
these seven messages, Doctor Evans unpacks our prayer isn't just
a spiritual duty. It's the pathway to real change, deeper
intimacy with God, and strength for every season of life.

(12:17):
We'd love to send you this complete audio series as
our thank you gift when you support the Ministry of
the Alternative, and if you do that right away, We'll
also include a copy of Tony's brand new devotional Anchored
by Prayer. It's a practical, step by step guide to
help you pray with confidence and consistency even when life
feels overwhelming or you're just not sure what to say.

(12:40):
This exclusive package will only be available for a few
more days now, so visit Tonyevans dot org right away
to make your donation and request, or call our resource
team any time of the day or night at one
eight hundred eight hundred thirty two twenty two. I'll share
that contact information again after part time two of today's message,

(13:01):
here's doctor Evidens.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
Okay, now let me show you something.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
I want you turn your Bibles to Saint John again
chapter five, and I want to show you something Jesus
has just healed the man at the pool of Bethesda,
all these sick people out there, and Jesus comes along
and he sees this man.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
He comes over this guy. He says, do you want
to be made well?

Speaker 2 (13:25):
God says, well yeah. Jesus says, well, take up your
bed and walk. God takes up his bed and starts walking.
And this man has been sick for over thirty years.
And all of a sudden, Jesus passes by and says,
you want to be made well, come on, get up.
The people who saw him do this say, wh whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
What are you doing? You can't do that.

Speaker 2 (13:50):
Jesus responds to them, and look what he says in
verse nineteen. Jesus therefore answered and said to them, truly, truly,
I say to you, the son of man can do
nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the
father doing. For whatever the father does these things, the

(14:11):
son also does in like manner. For the father loves
the son and shows him all that he himself is doing.
And greater works than these will he show him. That.
You may marvel. Now, I don't know if you just
caught that Jesus is saying, you know why I healed.

Speaker 1 (14:31):
Him because I saw the Father.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
Healing him when I saw I got up this morning
and I was spending time with God. And while I
was spending time with God, I saw what God was
doing in history. And when I saw what God was doing,
he was healing a man at the pool of Bethesda.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
So now that I see.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
That, that's what the Father is doing, I'm going over
here to the Pool of Bethesda and.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
We're gonna heal this guy.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
In otherwords, I'm a manifest in history what I saw
my daddy doing in eternity.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
Fact now tells you what prayer is supposed to be.
Prayer is not supposed to.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
Be sitting down and saying, Okay, bless my mother, Bless
my father, bless my kids. You know, bless my job today,
Give me a raise, make sure my car doesn't break down.

Speaker 1 (15:16):
I want to thank you for food on my table
and a roof over my head.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah that's nice, but you can do that in three minutes,
all right.

Speaker 1 (15:23):
That wasn't what Jesus was doing.

Speaker 2 (15:25):
He says, I positioned myself in the presence of God
until God showed me what he was doing that and
that was I wouldn't waste my time with all these
other people because God wasn't doing anything with them. He
was doing something with this man at the pool for
thirty some years sick. So when I saw what he
was doing, I went over and I participated in that.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
Let me tell you what Jesus did.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
He would spend an hour with God, so that he'd
only have to spend one minute with people. He walk
off with people say yep, this the one, Yet this
the one arrived up your bed and walk. He would
spend an hour with God, so he only had to
spend a few minutes with people.

Speaker 1 (16:07):
We spent a.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
Minute with God, so we got to spend years with people.
We never find out what he is doing so that
we can.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
Stop trialing error.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
Some of us ought to be tired or trial and error,
trial and there. I tried this, It didn't work. I
tried that. That didn't I tried. I tried, I tried.

Speaker 1 (16:23):
It, and we keep making we keep doing the same stuff.
Oh but no, I tried, I tried. None of this
is working.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
You know why because we never got around to finding
out what he was doing. We just wanted to do
what we were doing and then ask him to bless
it even though his name wasn't signed to it. What
I'm trying to say to you today is that your
whole life can be totally transformed by prayer if it's
in his name, which means it's according to his will,

(16:50):
based on his word, applied by his spirit. And I
know he's going to do it, but I don't know when. Now,
part of our problem is we don't know gonna do it.
But once you know he's gonna do it, you got
a timing issue.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
Now let me tell you why.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
There's always a gap between God letting you know he's
gonna do it and when he does it, or virtually
always a gap.

Speaker 1 (17:17):
No, what has a gap preparation.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
He's getting ready to make the connection between what you
know and when you get it, And that always, always,
always requires timing. God told Abraham you're gonna have a son.
They messed up with the timing. God told Israel, I'm

(17:42):
taking you to the Promised Land.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
They didn't develop through the timing.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
God told Joseph through a dream, I'm gonna make it
so your brothers will bow to you. But he never
would have thought it was gonna take fourteen years between
when he heard it and knew.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
It and when it.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
Happened because God was making preparation in Egypt for it
to occur at the proper time. Jesus was told, you're
gonna die for the sins of the war, but it's
gonna be a twenty to thirty three year gap between
when you're born and when you're gonna tie. That's why
Jesus said, my time has not yet come. It had

(18:22):
to do with timing. Now, let me let you in
on something. You can mess up the timing. Israel's trip
should have taken a few days that wind up taking
forty years because they messed up the timing. They wouldn't
let God prepare them for the answer that God promised

(18:46):
he would give them. So God can let you know
something without telling you when he can tell you the what.
But he won't necessarily tell you the wind because it
deals with your preper Are you preparing yourself to receive it?
When you get on the highway, what do you do?

(19:08):
You merge right, you're on the side road, you're on
the on ramp. You merge into the major traffic. Now
it would be to your it would be to your
betterment to slow down and look back. That would be
wise to do when you're entering on a highway. You
know why, because those.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
Cause are coming. God has the right of way. He's come.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
He's saying, you got the merge, you have to merge.
And the where I'm going. Then you're praying in my name,
You're praying according to my will, and I'm gonna let
you in here and we going somewhere. So the question
is do we want to spin our wheels or do
we want to make a connection, the connection of prayer
with God's purposes, Because any other purpose other than God's purpose.

Speaker 1 (19:54):
God does not obligate himself to you.

Speaker 2 (19:56):
Out there on your own, and a lot of us
should be tired of being on our own. A time
is up. But you know eagles. Eagles are known for
soaring right, you know, you know? Have you have you
ever watched an eagle with them long wingspans?

Speaker 1 (20:13):
That bird will do this twice, It's two times to go.

Speaker 2 (20:22):
See when it does that and catches the wind and
creates the updraft that creates the support for.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
The God, he just catches it and keeps going.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
It can go for hours and hours. You will never
see an eagle do this if they tried to do it.
It'll kill him because those wings are so heavy that
when they ran out of steam, that crash land and die.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
No eagles catch the draft. Oh, it's getting a little still,
like sure, sure.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
Somebody head and tied of doing this. I'm trying to
make it. I'm trying to make it.

Speaker 4 (21:11):
I'm doing the best I can.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
I can't make it anymore. I'm trying.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
I'm trying.

Speaker 1 (21:16):
It's not working. It's not working.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
Holy Doots is saying, come on, now, catch the wind.
Link in to my will and you don't have to
do all that you Joe.

Speaker 1 (21:33):
He says, guess what he's saying.

Speaker 2 (21:34):
He says, my commandments are not burden some so if
they're burden to you, you ain't doing this thing right.
My commandments why because when you catch the wind may become.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
My burden no longer your burden. I'm gonna I'm gonna
make your say, oh, I'm gonna get you there. You
can rest.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
So shorten the preparation time by making sure you're in
his will, praying and his no.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
And he says, and you.

Speaker 2 (22:01):
Have the confidence that he's going to give you.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
Jess what you.

Speaker 3 (22:06):
Ask if you're feeling that weariness. Doctor Evans talked about,
don't go away. He'll come back shortly to share the
most important prayer you could ever pray, a prayer that
connects you with the God who longs to lift you
above life's discouragement. In the meantime, if you'd like to
feel more connected with God and need more assurance that

(22:28):
you're being heard, get a copy of Tony's current series
called The Power of Prayer. You'll get all seven full
length messages that'll teach you how your prayers can become
more passionate and productive, and as I mentioned earlier, you'll
also receive his brand new devotional guide Anchored by Prayer.
When you make a donation to help support the Alternative

(22:49):
Broadcast ministry, experience a deeper, more powerful prayer life starting today.
Request yours at Tonyevans dot org or call one eight
hundred eight hundred thirty two twenty two. Once again, that's
Tonyevans dot org or call one eight hundred eight hundred
three two two two. Many of us think of prayer

(23:12):
as us talking and God listening, But on Monday, doctor
Evans will tell us about the intimate, relational side of
prayer that a lot of us miss right now, though
he's here to talk about the most important prayer we
can ever pray.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
If you've never accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior,
you can do that right now. Simply go to him
and acknowledge that you're a sinner in need of a savior,
and that you're transferring your trust to him alone because
of his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead.
In fact, I'm going to say a little prayer and
you can repeat it after me. You just have to
mean it for yourself. Heavenly Father, I know I'm a

(23:49):
sinner and that I can't save myself. I believe Jesus Christ,
your son, died on the cross in my place for
my sin, and I now am trusting him alone to
forgive me and to give me the gift of eternal
life that he promised to give to anyone who came
to him for it. Thank you for saving me and

(24:11):
help me from this day forward to live a life
pleasing to you. Congratulations. Welcome to the family.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
God bless you.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
If you pray that prayer for the first time today,
we invite you to visit our website at Tonyevans dot
org and click the link at the top of the
page that says Jesus, you find plenty of information and
resources there to help you get your new life headed
in the right direction.