Skip to content Giving to Other Believers Nov 10 · 25 min ...more
November 10, 2020 · 25 min · Pray Radio
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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.
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0:00 God wants to make it inextricably clear that your relationship to him vertically includes your relationship to others horizontally.0:10 Doctor Tony Evans says that's why church needs to be more than just a social gathering.0:15 Real people in real relationships are meeting real needs in a real way.0:21 This is the alternative with doctor Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, Texas, and president of the Urban Alternative.0:34 Large, small, good or bad, every 1 of us is part of a family. But doctor Evans says Christians are also a part of a second family. And today he explains how we should invest in those relationships.0:46 Let's turn to Romans chapter 12 as he begins.0:49 When God created the church, he was creating an environment for spiritual family relationships to be fostered. He never created the church simply to be a classroom for you to get1:01 instruction. He certainly didn't create it for it to be a theater where you come to watch a performance. He created it to be a community where authentic Christianity is lived1:13 out. He wants the church to be a community of authenticity where real people in1:25 real relationships are meeting real needs in a real way. Have you ever been to a carnival and seen the1:36 cardboard figures that are carved out, and then there's a hole in the middle for somebody to put their head in and to take a picture. So a man who wants to look muscle bound will put1:48 his head in a picture of a muscular figure, or a lady who wants to look like a beauty queen will put her head in the picture of a bathing beauty, and a picture be2:00 taken. But it doesn't take a genius to observe that that body doesn't fit that face. That body doesn't fit that look. That the way the head looks2:11 and the way the body is isn't the same. We run into that problem spiritually. Jesus is our head, but the way the body looks and the way the head looks don't look like they belong together.2:24 Don't look like it's a match. And part of the reason for that is that for many people, church becomes their fake2:36 visit for the week. Paul, in writing the church at Rome, is calling them to the big gift, first to God. God will then push that back to you, and he wants2:48 you to push it out to others. And that's why he begins in verse 9, let love be without hypocrisy. A poor would a evil3:00 cling to what is good. Let love be without hypocrisy. Love in the bible is passionately and righteously pursuing the well-being of another. Passionately and3:12 righteously pursuing the well-being of another. Love always takes you out of yourself because you are loving an object, whatever that object is, that person, place, or thing. It is passionately3:23 and righteously pursuing the well-being of another. But what I wanna focus on, it it says this, don't love with a mask on. He says, let not your love be hypocritical.3:35 Don't be a hypocrite. The word for hypocrite was used in the Greek world of an actor who wore a mask.3:47 And you've seen them in those older movies where they would take a mask and put it over their face in order to play a character. That same actor would then switch mask, and then he would put on another mask to3:59 play another character. He may play 3 characters in a play. He would go over and get the third mask and put it in front of his plate, and those people were called hypocrites. In other4:10 words, somebody wearing a mask in order to be an actor. Some of the best actresses and actors you know are in church4:24 because they come with a mask on. They come faking it. It comes out in our words. How you doing fine even when fine is not4:36 true? But the reason why people have to put on a mask is they are afraid what will happen if they unmask themselves. How they will be looked, viewed,4:48 criticized, and critiqued. And he says, love is without hypocrisy, no mask, abhorring what is evil, clinging to what is good. So he gives the 25:00 boundaries of love. Love doesn't skip evil, and it doesn't ignore good. It calls what's wrong wrong. It calls what's right right because love doesn't negate the truth. He says, now5:12 in community, in the in the body of Christ, there ought to be an environment where you can be loved without wearing a mask, without being a hypocrite,5:23 without being an actor, where you don't have to put on a performance for showtime at the Apollo, where you don't have to you don't have to come and perform5:35 Christianity because it is an authentic environment for truth.5:46 Now, let me tell you why this is important as we'll see as we go through this. It is important first John chapter 4 verses5:58 12 and following, because God determines, watch this, you don't wanna miss this, much of what he's going to do to, with, and for you by how you're6:10 relating to, with, and for others. Let me let me let me say that again because I want you to miss this. Much of what God decides to do or not6:22 do with to and for you is predicated on what you do with to and for others. He6:33 does not want you to camouflage with him, and he wants you to be authentic, me to be authentic with others. He goes on to verse 10, be devoted6:45 to 1 another. Here, we have 2 1 anothers in 1 verse. In brotherly love, that word brotherly love deals with family love like Philadelphia. It deals with the love in the context of a6:57 family. In brotherly love, give preference to 1 another, 1 another again, in honor. The word devoted is the word that means committed.7:09 This is not a word of casual relationships. There was no thought in the Bible that the church would be a place of casuality. I casually drive up. I7:21 casually walk in. I casually sit down. I casually listen. I casually leave. He says, no. No. Your gathering is to be a place of devoted like folks7:33 are within a family. Brotherly love, Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. That's where the word comes from. It deals with family kind of relationships. Folk who are living together in the7:45 same spiritual house, which is why the Bible calls the church the family of God. He wants it to be a place where people are committed to 1 another, devoted to7:56 1 another, and of benefit to 1 another. Now, we are living in a very selfish world. We're living in a world, even in a8:08 Christian world, where it's about me, myself, and I. You hear it all the time. I say it all the time. People come to church to get their blessing. How many8:20 people have you heard or met coming in the church who said, I came to church today to find out how I could be a blessing. It's usually they've come to get their blessing.8:31 The reason why God calls you into community is that you belong to something bigger than your solo act. Then me, myself, and I, then just you,8:43 you. It's interesting when teenagers want their own room and they want their own space, they will come out when they want something. And usually the thing they come out for that they won't, they didn't pay for.8:55 They want to rob the refrigerator. They wanna ask for gas money. They wanna use keys to the car. They want something for them. Other than that, leave me alone.9:07 And I will shut my door and prefer you put a lock on it. In fact, they can become self sufficient, put their own TV in, their own iPad, their, you know, own iTunes. They can they can9:19 they can hide themselves to death. And in a house of a family, pretend nobody lives there but them. God wants to make it9:31 inextricably clear that your relationship to him vertically includes your relationship to others horizontally. I'm going somewhere with this. Stick with me. Your9:43 relationship with him vertically, it all starts with the big gift to God. Present your body, but it doesn't end there. Your relationship to him vertically includes your9:54 relationship to others horizontally. So God will look at what he does with you, to you, and through you, and for you, and10:05 juxtaposition that to what you do with for, to, and through the benefit of others. And if there is nothing that goes through you, you may be limiting what comes to you.10:17 Let me say that again. If God can't get anything to flow through you, you may just have limited the prayer you've asked him to do for you10:29 because you are always, always, always blessed to be a blessing. And that's why there's so many 1 anothers in scripture over and over and over and10:40 over again. He says, it is a family issue, and you are to be the big giver not only to yourself, not only to God, but to benefit others, the 110:52 another's giving preference and honor to someone else. I want you to be searching for opportunities to impact somebody11:03 outside of you. Now why would you go through all that trouble to search for opportune? When you got all this stuff happening in your own life, when you got all this difficulty in your own why would you go looking for11:15 opportunities to impact somebody outside of you? Because God pays attention to the horizontal when he's ready to move on the vertical. When you're wanting something to come to you, reach11:27 out beyond you, because when you reach out beyond you, you get God's attention on you. So the best way to get God to move for you is to see you moving for the11:39 benefit of someone else. You remember I said give and it will be given to you. He says, whatever the it is you need in addition to your general11:51 obedience to God, look for that need to be met in somebody else. Because now you have become a vehicle of a blessing. You become a conduit.12:02 Doctor Evans will have more about moving those blessings along to your church family when he returns in just a moment. First though, let me tell you about a great conduit of blessing that flows in both directions.12:14 It starts when we send you all 6 messages in Tony's current teaching series, Return on Investment, which covers vital biblical principles like surrender, service, and the benefits of investing our lives12:26 in the Lord. Along with it, we'll include the companion study guide that's perfect for use with your personal devotions as well as your Bible study or small group. All we ask in return is that you make a12:37 contribution to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station. So don't wait. Make the arrangements today to get your return on investment resource packet before this limited time offer runs out. You can do that12:49 online at tonyevans dot org or call our 24 hour resource center at 1 808 hundred 32 22, where someone's always standing by to help you. Again, that's 1 8 013:01 0 8 0 0 3 2 2 2. Well, Doctor. Evans will come back to continue our message right after this.13:08 Democrats, Republicans, Independents, they all claim God is on their side, but doctor Tony Evans says we all need to line up on God's side.13:18 The word of God must trump your political alliances if you call yourself a Christian.13:24 That's why the Tony Evans training center just introduced an exciting new course, how should Christians vote, an in-depth look at what every believer needs to know before stepping into the voting booth.13:34 I kinda wanna know where God stands, so I know where I'm supposed to stand as a child of God.13:39 Believers depend on the Bible to guide our lives. This course will equip you to stop changing books when it comes to politics.13:46 Whether it's immigration, taxation, abortion, since it's a nation under God, what does the God over us think about what the nation wants to do?13:55 The How Should Christians Vote course will teach you to sort through the spin, hype, and double talk this election year and make a truly godly decision at the polls, All with the help of in-depth content from Tony,14:06 probing discussion questions, access to full length messages, and an online discussion forum where you can ask specific questions and get detailed answers. Visit tony evans dot org today and connect with the Tony14:18 Evans training center.14:20 He says in verse 11, not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit serving the Lord. Lagging behind means14:32 moving slow when you ought to be moving fast. You're in the slow lane. You're not in the fast lane. You're lagging behind. He adds another word to it, fervent. The word fervent means to boil over. It's14:44 like heating water up for tea, and you get it on a boil. Fervent means to to boil it. Not only does God want you to impact the life of another, he wants you to put it on boil.14:56 He wants that thing hot. He wants you to go for it. He'll just want you to throw some slap out there. He wants you to 0 in on that thing and say,15:08 God, this is what you want me to do. And let me put it another way. When God touches you and says, you know what? You can do something about that. You can help that situation. You can do something over there. Don't say15:19 next week. When God lights something in you and he says to you, I'm talking to you, that's something you can help with. That's somebody you can pray for. That's a situation15:31 you can make better. He said, don't lag behind. Turn the fire up and let it boil. He says, be fervent in spirit. Let the fire burn. And he says,15:44 don't just do it for people. He says, serving the Lord at the end of verse 11. You're actually focusing in on God. He goes on and he says,15:56 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. Let me think about practicing hospitality. The word hospitality is used in scripture of16:08 helping strangers. Contributing to the needs of the saints has to do with situations you you are more familiar with because you you you know what the need is. Practicing hospitality16:20 has to with strangers. He's talking about other believers who you haven't gotten to know yet. Even though I've never met you, don't know you, you're a stranger to me, I just want you to know that God loves you, and I16:31 believe that the same God that came through for me can come through for you, and maybe sometime we need to meet at church, and I can pray with you physically. But right now, you're my stranger, and I'm gonna pray for16:41 you. And if there's something practically I can do, contribute the needs, cook a meal, provide a gift, whatever it is, I'm going to do that because God has laid John Doe on my heart.16:53 Don't even know the guy. All you know is he's a stranger to you. Now, let me tell you why that's important. Because the book of Hebrews chapter 13 says, by taking17:05 care of strangers, you entertain angels unaware. The Greek word for angels, angelos, means messenger, and a messenger is a divinely17:17 assigned being to bring God's answer to you. Angels are angels have full time jobs, and their job is to deliver God's message to his17:28 people. Sometimes they're spiritual angels God use, sometimes they're human angels God uses. But he uses scenarios to bring to you the solution you were looking at for you. So17:40 when you go to practice hospitality in a responsible way to a stranger, you may be going to the situation that God wants to use to give you the answer17:52 you've been waiting to hear from. See, god has got this thing so that the vertical and the horizontal, when they connect, not only benefits what you go out to18:04 but what you're looking for. And the more I look at it, this principle of the vertical and horizontal meeting, when the more I look at the 2 connecting, then I am now seeing how God has got this thing working,18:16 which is why he says in first John chapter 4 that if a man says he loves me, but he has no love for the brethren, he's not gonna experience me. So a lot of us are blocking18:27 God by being selfish, only focused on ourselves. Far too many of God's children are spiritual orphans. They have no family. Or maybe they're in foster care. They just bounce around from house18:39 to house. They don't have a place where they land. To join a church is not merely to have a place to sit on Sunday. It is to build18:51 community with some group within that. That's why the Bible says, they gathered together and then they went from house to house. So they broke up into smaller arrangements so that they could connect with 1 another and19:02 relate to 1 another. So they could deal with people who were like them or struggling with them. So that there was not there was community in the house. That's why we're emphasizing in this season of our ministry, our19:14 horizontal connectedness. Without compromising our vertical connectedness, we're emphasizing horizontal connectedness so that people are connecting with people to give you the opportunity not only to reach19:26 out this way, but to give God something to work with this way. And when church becomes this, then it becomes authentic, then it becomes real. It's no longer fake. It's no longer19:38 Sunday morning only. It's no longer religious activity. It's no longer just sit soak and sour. It's creating a healthy environment in which God is free to move.19:51 Because no matter how much money we spend or how many programs we come up with, if the environment is not conducive horizontally and vertically,20:04 God is not free to express all that he wants to do. But when that environment changes, so that not only is the vertical right, but the20:15 horizontal is connected to it, God explodes through his people. The church. Having that group within the church who love you and whom20:27 you love because you can't know everybody, you can't relate to everybody unless the church is real small. You can't do that. But there ought to be people within the family of God whom you love, who love you, where both20:38 of you love God, and you are committed upward. You're committed outward freeing God up to blow everybody's mind. And that's why when the Bible speaks of the unity of the church, preserve, he calls it the20:50 unity of the spirit because that's where the spirit goes off, goes wild. That's where he fully can express himself. That's also why the devil wants to keep fighting going on. The devil wants to keep fighting going21:02 on because he knows that'll keep the spirit away. He knows if he can keep a fight in your family or in God's fam if he can keep a fight, he knows prayer becomes a waste of time.21:15 Bible says, a husband and wife, the God will not hear the prayer of a husband who's not getting along with his wife. Says, if you and your wife are not getting along, don't bother to pray. God's not listening. First21:26 Peter 3 7. We wanna I'm praying every day. Why? Because Satan has created a division and using that division to keep God's spirit away because he only operates in unity.21:38 See? And that's why we think a fight is just a fight. No. A fight is Satan's attempt to keep God off the premises. Whatever the premises happen to be. And so21:50 this thing is bigger than and and the more I look at it, it's it's just everywhere. This 1 another's, this this horizontal connectedness.22:01 Doctor Evans will come back in a moment with a final illustration to wrap up today's lesson, giving to other believers. That's the title to mention when you check with us for details on getting the full length CD,22:13 which includes material we didn't have time to present here on the air. Or better yet, ask about getting this entire 6 message series, return on investment on CD and digital download, along with the22:24 companion study guide. For a limited time, they're yours as our way of saying thanks for your contribution toward Tony's work here on this station and around the world. Get more information online at tony evans22:36 dot org or call us day or night at 1 808 hundred 32 22 and let 1 of our resource team members help with your request. Of all the people we could give22:48 to, you think our enemies would be at the bottom of the list. But on Monday, doctor Evans will explain why the biggest gift we could give them turns out to be a gift we give to ourselves.23:00 Right now though, he's back to wrap up today's lesson with this final illustration.23:04 The father and his son were walking along the beach 1 day, and a lot of starfish had been swept up on the shore, hundreds of them. So the father would take a step and he'd pick up23:16 a starfish, throw it back in the water, take another step, pick up another starfish, throw it in the water, go a few more feet, pick another starfish, throw it in the water. Well, the son said, daddy, I don't know why23:27 you're doing it. There are hundreds of starfish up here. You can never throw them all back in the water. You just go up a few feet and pick up 1 and throw it to the water. What difference does it make?23:39 To which the father says, well, it makes a lot of difference to the ones I pick up. I can't pick up more, but the ones I do pick up, their lives have been changed.23:52 Guess what? There are a lot of starfish here this morning. The pastors can only pick up so many because we have our human limitations too. And sometime, we are24:04 starfish and need to be picked up. So we can't we can't pick them all up, but guess what? If I can get enough folk on the beach, if I can get enough saints on the beach,24:16 then we can pick up all these starfish and get them all thrown back to the life that they're supposed to live because there's enough folk on the beach to pick up the ones who've been24:27 washed ashore so that we can all get back to the life we were created to live.24:35 The alternative with doctor Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative and is made possible by the generous contributions of listeners like you.
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