Skip to content The Urban Alternative - Tony Evans Sep 19 · 25 min ...more
September 19, 2022 · 25 min · Pray Radio
...more Show the full description Show less Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
665K followers
Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies.
665K followers
0:00 Understand that Jesus has already done what you're trying to do.0:03 Jonathan Evans says when trying to figure out where we're going, it can be as easy as following those who have successfully gone before.0:11 He has the ultimate blueprint to help your feet land solid on the ground.0:15 This is The Alternative with Doctor. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of The Urban Alternative.0:28 When in doubt, people might suggest you follow your heart. Good advice? Well, it depends on what or who your heart is following. Today, Jonathan Evans talks about how to develop0:40 a passion to pursue the truth that leads to life. Let's join him as he begins.0:45 Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. Amen. It says, therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us0:57 lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before1:09 us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the1:21 right hand of the throne of God. It starts out by saying, therefore, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, a witness1:33 is somebody who has gone before you who can give you a testimony, who can encourage you and push you along to the destiny that God has for you. I don't know if you know it or not, but if1:45 God has created you and you're sitting in this room, he has something for you. Now when I was sitting with my father in the twelfth grade, but before I went to college, I sat with my father and I1:57 said, dad, I need you to be my witness right now and give me a testimony. I need to know how you got from your 0.1 to your point b. Because if you know anything about how my father was2:08 raised, he was raised by by high school dropouts. He was raised with no finances. He was raised in the inner city of Baltimore, Maryland. He was supposed to be a statistic,2:20 and I wanted to know how you got out of that. And you went from your 0.1 to your point b. I need you to give me a testimony of my witness. Can I give you a testimony from my witness for a second? He said,2:32 son, you really wanna know how I got there? I said, I really wanna know how you got there. I don't wanna miss out on my purpose that god has for me for my life because I don't have a blueprint. And he said, son, if you2:43 really wanna know, you don't need necessarily words from me. Go read the word in Hebrews chapter 11, and then come back to me, and we can talk about what you see. So I said, okay. I finally submitted to2:54 it, and I went to Hebrews chapter 11. And verse 1 says, faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. Verse 4 says, by faith, Abel offered a3:06 better sacrifice than Cain. Verse 5 says, by faith Enoch was caught up. Verse 7 says, by faith Noah built an ark. Verse 8 says, by faith Abraham obeyed. Verse 113:18 says, by faith Sarah conceived even though she was barren. Verse 20 says, by faith, Isaac blessed Jacob. Verse 22 says, by faith, Joseph made mention of the Exodus while he was3:30 dying. Verse 24 says, by faith, Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Verse 31 says, by faith, Rahab hid the spies. And so I ran back to my dad, and I said,3:42 dad, I know how you made it from your 0.1 to your point b. How, son? You did it by faith. Bingo. You got it. Because he wanted me to see3:53 what the therefore was there for. It says since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, all you have to do is go back to the cloud of witnesses to figure out how they got from their 0.1 to4:05 their point b and used the same ingredients. They did it by faith. And when I was sitting at that table, I said, dad, now you gotta go deeper with me as you've given me this testimony and you're being my witness.4:17 You gotta define faith for me. Just just help me get this thing before I move on to the next level. He said, son, faith is acting like it is so even when it's not so, so that it might be so simply because4:29 God said so. Faith is doing what God is telling you to do whether you feel it, whether you have full knowledge about it, whether you4:40 like it, whether you understand it. All of that is irrelevant. You do it because he said it. If you're running this race, it's about movement. Yeah. Wants to see the movement of your faith.4:51 I want.4:52 We live today in a if I could give America a slogan, it would be follow your heart. Everybody wants to talk about following your heart. Well, how are you gonna make this happen? Well, I'm5:04 just gonna follow my heart. And I I talked to my dad a little bit while he was bearing witness to me about this following your heart stuff, and he said, no. No. No. No. You don't understand. Jeremiah 17 9 doesn't say5:15 follow your heart. It says it's the most deceitful part of you and is desperately sick. So God's word says, don't follow your heart. The world says, follow your heart. It's because Satan's job5:27 is to be the antithesis of what God is saying and take you in a 1 80 direction from his truth. Everybody wants to talk about follow your heart when God's word says your heart is deceitful. My dad at the5:39 table was not telling me faith is following your heart. My dad at the table was telling me faith is making your heart follow the truth. Alright. That's good. See, if you wanna get to your destiny and5:51 you're following your heart, your road to your destiny will be just as up and down as your emotions. But if you make your heart follow the truth, the truth is unchanging. Yeah. And that makes the road to your destiny a6:02 straight shot on God's word. Yeah. He said faith is acting like it is so even when it's not so, so that it might be so simply because God said so. It's relying on his6:14 word, and we have to have a perspective like these cloud of witnesses did in Hebrews chapter 11, a perspective of faith. Seeing things the way God wants you to see things through6:26 His word, not the way the world wants you to see things through your natural eyes, having a perspective of faith. Because you're gonna run into roadblocks on this road as you're running with endurance. You're gonna run6:37 into intersections on this road. You're gonna run into detours on this road, but having a perspective knowing that God is in control of your destination. Understanding where he's taking6:48 you. I remember when I played football for the Buffalo Bills and, over in the East Coast, I don't know if they still have it. This was 2008, but they still have full service filling stations.7:00 We don't have those anymore, but over there, it's so cold. Nobody wants to get out of their car. I'm not trying to get out of my car in Buffalo, New York. It's cold. Somebody who's getting paid, come out here if you7:11 please. But we were taking a road trip. My friend was driving, and we were trying to get back to practice the next day. And you know how when you're driving and you're taking a long road trip, you have a whole lot of7:22 bugs that kill themselves on your windshield, and it just gets dirty, and you need to clean it off. And we pulled into the filling station, and all we wanted we had gas, but all he was telling the7:34 guy to do is, sir, can you please clean my windshield because it's so dirty and we need to get all the way to Orchard Park? And the guy says, sure. I'll clean your windshield. So he pulled the windshield wiper out and he7:44 started cleaning the windshield, and then he cleaned it off. And he thought all looked well. He looked at my friend and said, is there anything else I can help you with? My buddy said, yeah. My windshield is still dirty.7:56 Can you please clean off my windshield? And I'm looking at it. It kinda looks clean to me, but he thinks it's still dirty. So the guy says, okay. I'll clean your windshield again. He cleans it off. He says, is there8:07 anything else I can help you with? He said, dog, my windshield is still dirty. Do you see this? Can you clean my windshield again? And so the guy looks at it. He's a little confused. I'm a little confused,8:19 And he cleans it off again. Is there anything else I can help you with? And my friend says, man, this windshield is still dirty. I don't understand what's going on, sir. You're not really doing your job. And that's when8:30 I figured it out. You see, I pulled the glasses off his face and cleaned those and put those back on, and all of a sudden, everything was clear because what you look through determines what you8:42 see. If you're not looking through godly perspective, a lot of things will look foggy when he has a clear vision for your life if we would operate based on god's word8:54 through faith. It takes faith. These cloud of witnesses are showing us if you want to get to the hall of fame or the hall of faith is what I call this, then you have to operate by faith and knowing that it is the9:06 main ingredient to get you from your 0.1 to your point b. It's the main ingredient. For you have been saved by grace through faith that not of yourself. That connection with your faith9:17 and grace is what gives you salvation, is what helps you move forward in this life. It's the main ingredient. I was at Corpus Christi not that long ago, and 1 of my friends picked me up, and I wanted to know why9:29 he was so excited. You shouldn't be this excited to see me, and why are you so happy to see me? And he was so excited, and he's in the airport, and now he's kind of bobbing up and down. And I'm just like, what's going9:40 on? And he's like, when we step outside, you'll see why I'm so excited. And I stepped outside, and I said, oh, okay. Now I see why you're so excited. He had just bought a brand new Cadillac CTS9:52 red. And I said, okay. I see why you're so excited. It had all of the amenities. It had the chrome grill on the front, the leather seats, the leather steering wheel, a heated steering wheel, by the way, if10:04 his hands don't get cold in Corpus. But either way, he was excited about his new ride that had all these amenities, and I was excited to take a ride with him. So I sat down in the car, and we started10:16 driving. But the problem was as we were exiting the airport to get on the freeway, his nice ride with all the amenities all of a sudden stopped riding. And he idled over to10:28 the side of the road, and he's looking at me, and I'm looking at him, And he's looking at me, and I'm looking at him. And we're both trying to figure out how is it that you got this car with all these nice amenities10:40 and you just bought it, but we're not going anywhere. So we, as men, you know, we lift up the hood. We're looking at the engine. I don't know nothing about no engine. But I'm looking at it trying to figure out what's10:50 going on. And then I finally get back in the car. We're checking the battery, doing all those things. And then I look at his dash and look at his vitals. And then I look at him, and I said, Clarence, you forgot to put11:00 gas in the car. Because it doesn't matter what you have in all these amenities. If you don't have the main thing, you're still not going anywhere. And what my11:12 dad was telling me is that as you move on, this world is gonna make it seem like it's all about the amenities. Even in church, they make it seem like it's all about the amenities. Do you know soteriology and11:23 hermardiology, and you're not really in God's word if you don't know demonology and angelology and all of those different things, but the people who are really moving to the destiny that God has for them are the ones who11:35 are operating by faith. Because if you don't have that, you're still not going anywhere. That's what my dad was telling me at that table. He was saying, son, he was given a father son11:46 testimony. If you wanna go from your 0.1 to your point b, you have to do it by faith.11:52 Jonathan Evans will have more on the benefits of following a faithful witness when he continues this final message from his special 2 week series called Survivor. This collection12:04 of lessons can provide just the kick start you need if you feel like your life's burdens and struggles have become overwhelmingly difficult. In these messages, author, speaker, and chaplain12:16 Jonathan Evans equips and encourages you to understand how to relinquish your own self reliance, allowing you to rest in the knowledge that God is fighting your battles right alongside you. We'd like to send you12:28 all 10 full length messages in this series as instant digital downloads or on CDs as our way of saying thanks for your contribution to help continue this ministry on the air and around the world.12:40 And as a special bonus, we'll also include a copy of Jonathan's book, Fighting Your Battles, released just this month. In it, you'll learn that the promises, experiences, and progress God has in12:52 store for you are often only discovered as you endure life's struggles with the Lord at your side. And for a deeper understanding of these freeing truths, be sure to check out the companion Fighting Your13:04 Battles DVD and study guide. Now this is the final day we'll be packaging all these resources together, so contact us right away at tony evans dot org, or call our resource13:16 request line at 1 808 hundred 32 22, where 1 of our team members will be happy to help you. Again, that's 1 808 hundred 3 2 2 2. I'll have13:27 that information for you again after part 2 of today's message and this.13:32 Today, our atmosphere is being contaminated by a sense of selfishness. It is in kindness that we are not destroyed.13:42 Join Tony Evans in his Kindness in the Culture campaign to set a new standard for our nation. Take part by doing a practical act of kindness for someone each week, then pray with them and share the gospel with them13:54 through our convenient kindness cards. Visit tony evans dot org to learn more. Be kind, Change culture.14:00 He expects his people to be ambassadors of kindness. Nice can be your persona. Nice can be your personality. Kindness is your action.14:11 Look at the verse. It says, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and sin which so easily entangles us.14:23 Stuff that easily entangles us. When I looked at that word easily, how we're so easily tangled up with the things that hold us back, my dad was bearing witness that day, and he said, son, if you're trying to14:35 run this race, but you're too busy holding on the baggage and you're too busy holding on to the past. I know you've made mistakes. If you're too busy holding on to unforgiveness and what people have done to you or14:47 unforgiveness to yourself, it's gonna be hard to move down the road that God is calling you to because you're too busy focusing focusing on the baggage that you have in your life. You have to realize that who the14:59 son sets free is free indeed, and it was for freedom that he died on the cross, not for you to live in chaos or to hold on to bondage. If you wanna go from your 0.1 to your point b, you're gonna have to15:10 let some stuff go. The verse says that you have to lay it aside. There are some some hurt in this room. There's some harm in this room. There's some people who have gone through some stuff. There are people who are15:22 dealing with addiction. There are people who have some hurt in their marriages, hurt with their kids, or some men and some fathers in this room that wanna reconnect with some relationship they have with their children15:32 and haven't forgiven themselves. That is the very thing that's breaking you from that connection that God is trying to get you to. You have to let some stuff go and lay aside every encumbrance and the things that hold15:44 you back from the endurance of this race because it's not given to the swift. It's to the 1 who can endure. It's a long race. Yeah. It's the 1500. It's not the hundred15:56 meter. It's not the 200 meter. You gotta run around this thing a whole lot of times to get you to where God is trying to take you because he said, you son, you have to lay some stuff down and lay it aside. It says16:08 lay aside every encumbrance. Yeah. But what is an encumbrance? An encumbrance is a distraction. In other words, lay aside all of those things in our life that are distracting us from the goal of16:19 getting to Christ likeness and being who God has created us to be. As the chaplain of the Dallas Cowboys, I fly to all the away games. I go to all of the home games. And it's a crazy experience16:31 because it's so distracting going to these away games. I'm not even playing, and I'm distracted. They get off the plane. Fans, they're just screaming and yelling, taking pictures, or yelling obscenities, 1 or the16:43 other. It depends on where we are. If it's in Philly, we don't have fans in Philly. Philly's a a whole different place, but when they get off the plane, it's distracting. When they go into the hotel room, it's16:54 pictures, it's cameras, it's flashes. It's it's so distracting when you go on the road, but the most distracting thing that the Cowboys face, the biggest distraction for them is the noise of the stadium from17:06 the away crowd. You have to block them out, and you have to run the play. In other words, it's not that the distraction is gonna go away. Oh, it's gonna be there. Your17:18 job verse is to lay it aside. In other words, block it out because if you don't block it out and they prevent you from running the play, then we cannot progress towards the17:30 goal. They will stop us from getting to our destiny if you don't block them out and run the play because a distraction will stop you from getting to the goal. It'll hinder your progress17:41 or slow you down as you try to move towards the goal line. And while a distraction will slow you down, sin will back you up. You see, it says remove17:53 or lay aside every distraction and every sin. Because if you're trying to progress forward, a distraction will slow you down, but a18:05 sin will back you up. If I can stay on this football kick since I'm already on it, if you jump off sides, you have to back up 5 yards. If you hold somebody, you have to back up 1018:17 yards. If you commit a personal foul, you have to back up 15 yards. Now every infraction has a different consequence, but the fact remains that you're still backing up. You're not18:29 getting closer to the goal. You're getting further from the goal. Yeah. And 1 thing that I noticed when it comes to an infraction or a yellow flag that gets thrown on the field, once you back18:40 up, the goal line does not compensate for your backwards movement. Christ likeness and his standard is not gonna adjust just because you have distractions and infractions in your18:52 life. No. It's just gonna take you longer to get to your destination. I don't wanna be 70 years old, and I still haven't made it to where God is calling me to because life is like a coin. You19:04 only get to spend it once. And since I only get to spend this thing once and you only get to spend this thing once, we ought to wanna know how do I get from my 0.1 to my point b. It ought to be serious.19:16 He says remove and lay aside all of those things that you're holding on to that may prevent you, son, from going from your 0.1 to your point b because this is a race of endurance, and it's hard19:28 to run with baggage on your back. The problem is we wanna hold on to some. We don't really wanna remove every. We wanna hold on to some of those things that we're comfortable with. We are in some19:39 relationships right now that are right, but we're comfortable. So we wanna hold on to some of those things, not realizing that it's stopping us from going from our 0.1 to our point b. He19:51 says remove every encumbrance in sin. That means strive for the goal. He said, run this race. Lay aside every encumbrance in sin that so easily entangles you so20:03 that you can run this race with endurance, but don't run it without fixing your eyes on Jesus. Come on now. Fixing your eyes on Jesus, the author and20:15 perfecter of your faith Yeah. Who for the joy set before him endured the cross despising the shame. That's the last thing my father told me as he was bearing witness to me. He said, you gotta walk by20:26 faith, son. You gotta let some stuff go. You gotta move forward in what God is calling you to do, but don't forget to fix your eyes on Jesus. Now I was thinking at that moment that I mean, well, how I mean, just20:38 kinda, you know, how do you how do you look at that? How do you understand that? What do you mean fix your eyes on Jesus? He said, you have to understand that what he's asking you to do when it comes to this race of20:48 endurance is something that he himself has already done. In other words, he is the main witness. I'm 1 witness. You got the cloud of witnesses in the Bible, but he21:00 is the main witness. So when he said fix your eyes on Jesus, what he's saying is you have to look at his blueprint. Look at what he went through. Look how he walked. Look how he talked, and ultimately,21:12 how he endured the cross. The author is saying you have to run this race with endurance. And right after that, he takes you to fixing your eyes on Jesus who himself21:24 endured the cross. He's telling you that what I'm asking you to do, you're not alone in this. Some of us think that we're alone in the situations we face. Some of us think that we're the only 1 going through this thing.21:35 But what my dad says when you hit those trials, when you hit those hard times, when you hit those intersections, when you hit those detours, fix your eyes on Jesus. Yeah. Because he is the author and perfecter of that21:47 faith. He endured the cross for the joy set before him. He's the author and perfecter of your faith. Yeah. He who began a good work in you is faithful to complete21:58 it until the day of Christ Jesus. Yeah. He who began a good work in you is faithful to walk you through all the way till the day of Christ Jesus. So when you get tired of running this race and you22:10 wanna throw in the towel, remember that he didn't throw in the towel on you. When you get tired of dealing with the pains in life, when it talks about fixing your eyes on Jesus, remember that he was wounded for22:22 our iniquities and bruised for our transgressions. They strung him wide, he experienced pain. He's drawing your attention to the endurance that Christ had so that you can be comforted and and encouraged in your22:34 race with the endurance that he's asking you to have. He's saying fix your eyes on Jesus. What does verse 3 say? What does verse 3 say? I'm gonna take you a little further. For consider him who has22:46 endured such hostility by sinners against himself so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. That's what the author is saying. Run this race with endurance, but22:58 don't forget to fix your eyes on Jesus. Because when you wanna lose heart, throw in the towel, and when you get weary in this life on this road from your 0.1 to your point b, understand that Jesus has23:10 already done what you're trying to do. He has the ultimate blueprint to help your feet land solid on the ground.23:20 Jonathan Evans, with an important reminder to keep our eyes focused on the Lord. Now before we go, I want to remind you to check into getting for yourself 1 of the first copies of Jonathan's new book, Fighting23:32 Your Battles, a resource that will give you support, encouragement, and perspective as you progress toward the purpose God created you to fulfill. And remember, as a special bonus, when you make a23:44 financial contribution toward keeping this ministry coming your way, we'll say thanks by sending you Fighting Your Battles and all 10 full length messages from Jonathan's corresponding audio series,23:55 Survivor. Now this is the final day for this special offer, so look us up right away at tony evans dot org, where you can make all the arrangements. Or give us a call day or night at 124:06 808 hundred 32 22, where our resource team members are standing by to help. That's 1 808 hundred 3 2 2 2. Americans have a very24:18 important decision ahead as we elect national, state, and local leaders. But tomorrow, Doctor. Evans will be back to talk about an even more important choice facing us, 1 we need to make24:30 before we go to the polls. I hope you'll join us. The Alternative with Doctor. Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative and is made possible by the generous contributions24:42 of listeners like you.
