Skip to content The Urban Alternative - Tony Evans Jul 30 · 25 min ...more
July 30, 2022 · 25 min · Pray Radio
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664K 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.
664K followers
0:00 If emotions are a product of your thought life, who controls your thought life determines how you feel.0:07 Doctor. Tony Evans says even though we can't ignore bad feelings, we don't have to surrender to them.0:13 If God is controlling your thinking, then you will feel like God wants you to feel because emotions piggyback off of thoughts.0:21 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.0:33 God gave us emotions for a reason, and they're a big part of what makes us human. But Doctor. Evans says they also make us vulnerable. And in today's message, he talks about how to find a healthy balance between0:45 our feelings and our faith. Let's join him.0:49 Addiction is the world's way of explaining you being in hostage to something you can't shake. They say you are addicted to alcohol,1:00 addicted to drugs, addicted to sex, addicted to whatever it is. The only problem with that worldly word is that the term addiction, as it1:12 is used in the secular world, suggests that I am a powerless victim to my problem. That I do not have the ability to get out of it because1:24 somebody else caused it and my bad genes keeps it. It is a way of putting off on others what belongs to me.1:37 The biblical word is stronghold. What is the difference between the secular word addiction and the biblical word stronghold? It's simply this, a1:48 stronghold assumes a spiritual dimension and addiction doesn't. Addiction means you may never get out of this. A stronghold means that if I can ever get the spiritual2:00 right, the physical has to set me free. We wanna overcome strongholds and specifically today, we wanna overcome emotional strongholds.2:12 Let me look at 3 things very quickly today. First of all, the causes of emotional strongholds. What is the cause of emotional strongholds? I didn't ask, what is the cause of your2:24 emotional addiction? What is the cause of emotional strongholds that are not physiologically tied? All emotional strongholds that are2:36 not physically related to illnesses of the body are rooted in sin. Because I'm not talking about addictions now. You you won't hear this at the normal 122:47 step program. All emotional strongholds. I'm not just talking about a bad day. I'm talking about you're trapped by your emotions. You wake2:59 up depressed. You live in fear. You are hostage to anger. That is rooted in sin. Now,3:11 before you react negatively to that, let me finish it. It's either rooted in your sin, something you did that brought it on, or it's3:23 rooted in somebody else's sin. They abused you when you were a child, you got raped. It wasn't your sin, but it was sin. Or it's rooted in what I might call3:35 atmospheric sin. That is, you live in a world that's been so contaminated by sin that there's something always showing up to take you down. But in either3:46 case, it is sin. Now I know what some of you are thinking. You said, pastor, you've talking a long time. I ain't seen no bible yet. Alright. Let's open it up. Genesis3:58 chapter 3. God created Adam and Eve and put them in a perfect environment, Flawless. And there was only joy. No negative4:10 emotional experiences. Satan came on the scene and got Adam and Eve to rebel against God. Verse 7, then the eyes of4:22 both of them were open and they knew they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. Now compare that with chapter 2 verse 25, and the man and the woman were both naked and were not4:33 ashamed. In chapter 2 verse 25, they're not ashamed after they have rebelled against God due to the influence of Satan. In chapter 3 verse 7, they are ashamed and they have to cover themselves. So now, we4:45 have the emotion of shame entering into the human race. Verse 8, and they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the4:57 day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. The Lord called and said, where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of thee in the garden and I was5:09 afraid because I was naked. Now you have the emotion of fear, never experienced before entering into the human race. Chapter5:21 4, Adam and Eve had 2 baby boys, Cain and Abel. God didn't accept Cain's offering. Verse 4, and Abel on his part also brought the firstlings of the flock and the fat portions, and the5:33 Lord had regard for the, offering of Abel. But for Cain and for his offering, he had no regard, so Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.5:44 So now you have anger entering into the human race, and the falling of the countenance, which we call today depression. So when5:56 Adam and Eve rebelled against God, sin, at the influence of Satan, shame entered into the human race, fear entered into the human race, anger entered into human race,6:08 and depression entered into the human race. Why did it enter into the human race? It entered there because of Satan's influence of sin in the life of men6:20 against God. Now, if you don't realize that, you won't go looking for that. And if you don't go looking for that, the alarm will go off, and you'll never see the6:31 fire. All emotional strongholds that are not physiologically rooted are tied to the presence of sin. Your sin, somebody else's sin, or a6:43 contaminated sinful environment in which you and I live. In fact, God asked Cain in verse 6, why are you angry and why are you depressed? He says, if6:55 you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not well, sin is crouching at the door and its desire is from you, but you must master it. Do you get the point? Until you master7:07 sin, you'll never master your emotions. Until you master sin, you'll never master your feelings. Until you master the thing that is causing you to feel the way you're feeling, whether it's yours,7:19 somebody else's, the atmosphere, Satan will always have the ability to keep you feeling it. So the cause of all emotional stronghold is rooted in7:31 somebody's sin somewhere. At least to a second of 3 points that I wanna make. The second point is simply this, the categories of spiritual stronghold. There are7:42 3 general categories. First of all, spiritual strongholds are rooted in pain of the past. What happened to me when I was a child? I was7:54 abused by my mother or father or I was raped or I was betrayed or I had a traumatic experience as a kid. And what happens is emotional8:06 grooves are dug in our mind because, watch this, Satan makes a tape of your negative experiences, and he keeps his finger on the replay8:17 button. The second way or category are problems in the present. You may not be struggling because of the past, you may be dealing with what's going on right now.8:29 You know, if anybody should have been depressed, it should have been the apostle Paul. Let me read to you first Corinthians 11. He says in verse 23, he said, I had labors, I had8:41 imprisonments, beaten times without numbers, often in danger of death. 5 times I received from the Jews 39 lashes, 3 times I was beaten with a rod. Once I was stoned. 3 times I was shipwrecked. A8:53 day and a night, I spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journey in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the gentiles, dangers from the city, dangers in the wilderness,9:03 dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren. I have been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, without food, in cold, and exposure. And apart from the external things, there is9:15 the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. And you think you had a bad hair day. He said, let me tell you about my9:27 life. Every day, something's going wrong. Every day, I face mess. Every day, I got folk in my life who trying to bring me down. Every9:39 day. And yet, you hardly ever see him depressed. You hardly ever see him wanting to quit. You hardly ever see him wanting to throw in the towel even though he was going through the9:51 pain of the present. There's a third reason or category of pain, fear of the future. You're scared about tomorrow. What if I get10:02 cancer? What if I have a heart attack? What if 1 of my children dies? What if? What if? What if? And even though you know Matthew 610:14 34 says, don't be anxious for tomorrow for today has enough trouble of its own, you are a hostage to what might happen. You10:26 live in fear of what could take place, and so you are paralyzed. Now folks, all you have is the past, present, and the future. That's it. So if the10:38 past don't get you, the present might. If the present don't get you, the future will. And Lord have mercy if you're hostage to all 3, past, present, and future.10:51 What's the cure? What's the cure for my I'm tired of being an emotional dish rag. I'm tired of being scared in the morning and angry during the day and depressed at11:03 night. I'm tired of living on Prozac and Valium and lithium. I am tired of depending.11:15 Well, let me state it negatively first. You don't cure emotional strongholds by denying that they exist, nor do you overcome emotional strongholds by11:27 overriding them, by getting something more powerful to distract you from them. It can distract you, but it doesn't deal with it. I'm depressed. Let me go watch TV. Some people get depressed and11:39 they eat. In other words, it's an attempt to cover it up so that I don't have to deal with it. Let me do something that I like that will force me not to think about it,11:52 but I haven't dealt with it. Nor do you overcome emotional strongholds by avoiding things that bring them up.12:04 You know why? Because Satan will always have another thing around the corner to bring it up again. I'm not saying you run to it, I'm just saying that that you12:15 cannot always run from it because if Satan knows you have it, he won't bring it. He has the right person in the right place at the right time to remind you.12:27 So what do we do when those negative feelings seem inescapable? Well, Doctor. Evans will have the answer for us when he returns in a moment with more of this message from his series Living Above the Circumstances.12:39 This 15 message compilation explains how we can experience blessings and joy regardless of the obstacles we may be facing. And right now, for only a couple more days, this entire 2 volume12:51 set can be yours as our gift on CD or digital download, and thanks for your contribution to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station. In addition to this powerful collection of messages,13:03 we'll also say thanks by including a copy of Doctor. Evans' popular best selling booklet called Let It Go. This easy to read guide can help you or a struggling friend learn how to let go of the past13:15 live in the present and trust God for the future don't miss out visit tony evans dot org today you can find all the details to take advantage of this special double offer. Or call our13:27 24 hour resource request line at 1 808 hundred 32 22. I'll repeat that information for you a little later after part 2 of today's lesson and this.13:38 You can't help everybody, but you do all the good you can. By all the means you can, you do the best you can.13:46 Let's replace hurting with hope. Tony Evans' Kindness in the Culture campaign encourages you to be an ambassador of kindness. Help someone in need just once a week, offer to pray for them, then13:58 share the gospel with them through our kindness cards. Visit tony evans dot org to learn more.14:03 And if the Holy Spirit led each of us to do 1 thing a week, that's thousands of people who will know that God cares because we just didn't do nice things. We did it in14:15 God's name.14:16 Let's return to our message now. Here's doctor Evans.14:20 Now let me tell you something that many people don't know. Emotions don't have, watch this, intellect. Emotions are14:32 dumb. They don't think. Emotions, watch this, have to borrow thoughts. They have to borrow thoughts in14:44 order to emote off of them because they have no thoughts of their own. Emotions respond to what we think. Therefore, if emotions14:56 are a product of your thought life, who controls your thought life determines how you feel. Did you hear what I just said? If emotions piggyback on thoughts,15:08 then whoever is controlling the thoughts that the emotions are piggybacking off of controls how or what emotion will express itself. If the devil is controlling your thinking, then15:19 you'll feel like he wants you to feel. If God is controlling your thinking, then you will feel like God wants you to feel because emotions piggyback off of thoughts. It's15:31 because of the man thinking, so is he. That's why Jesus said, you will know the truth. You will know the truth. You will know. If you know it, not just hear it, if15:43 you know the truth, that truth, that data will set you free. It will set you free, in this case, from emotional strongholds, but you need to know the truth. See, some of you just discovered your identity in Christ.15:55 You never knew that truth before, so you were held hostage to your old identity in Adam, and you never knew what grace was, so you always had to feel like the devil wanted you to feel because you were operating off of16:06 your old identity. Oh, I love Lamentations chapter 3. You don't have to turn there. Jeremiah is all depressed. He says, I'm wrong. I messed up. The city's messed up. Everybody messed up. My world is falling apart. But16:18 then he said, I remembered God. He said, and when I remembered God and began to think thoughts about God, even though I couldn't see him, even though he was nowhere around, When I started thinking thoughts about God, I16:28 started to feel different about the mess I was in. Psalm 42. Let's look at it as we bring this to a close. Watch this now. Psalm 42. He says, As16:40 the deer pants after the water, brook, I'm panting after you. Now, it sounds like when he starts, everything's okay. That's not why he's panting after God. He's panting after God because nothing's okay. He says in verse16:50 3, My tears are my food day and night. I'm depressed. He says in verse 4, I can't forget. I'm remembering stuff that happened and I can't forget, so I'm pouring my soul out. He says in verse 5, I'm in despair. He says in17:02 the second half of verse 5, I'm discouraged within me. But then he says, I'm going to go to God and I'm going to find help. I'm going to go to God and I'm going to find help, verse 5, from his presence. Oh,17:13 my soul is discouraged, but then I'm going to remember the Lord. He says in verse 8, the Lord will command his loving kindness. He hadn't done it yet, confidence is in the Lord. He says, the Lord is my rock in verse 9.17:25 He says in verse 11, why are you despised, oh my soul? Why have you become disquieted within me? Hoping God for I will yet praise him and the help of the continents of my God.17:36 What affected his discouragement? He looked in a different direction. He looked for what God was going to do even though he couldn't see it. In other words, he looked by faith.17:49 Anybody know what Joseph named his 2 sons? He named 1 Manasseh. This is after he went through a whole lifetime of pain. He named 118:01 Manasseh, which means the Lord has helped me to forget. Then he had another baby boy, and his name was Ephraim. He named Ephraim because Ephraim came to18:12 mean that the Lord has made me fruitful in my suffering. He named his baby boys because of what he saw with God, and then he looked at his brothers and said,18:24 y'all messed over me and you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. In other words, God can take a mess and turn it into a miracle if you're looking for God18:36 and not just looking for feelings. As long as Satan can keep you looking at your feelings, you're never gonna look at God. And when you never look at God, you won't see what God is doing, and he will keep you distressed18:47 and in emotional turmoil. That's why the church is so important. Because you know what the church supposed to be? Not just a place where you come here preaching, come here as quiet. Church supposed to be a place where18:59 you come to find encouragement. Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, Hebrews 10 says, but stir 1 another up, encourage 1 another. The church is the place you come to19:11 find folk who will keep you looking at God when you can't see him. They may not be able to solve your problem. They may be able to counsel you out of that problem, but they will point you to God and keep your eyes19:22 focused on him so that you're not drowned by what you're going through. If you're discouraged about your marriage, don't hang out with somebody else trying to get a divorce. You wanna talk to somebody who was getting19:31 ready to leave their marriage, found God, and can tell you where God can show up in the midst of what seems like an impossible marriage situation. You wanna find encouragement in the house of the Lord. You know why19:42 Israel was discouraged and they didn't go into the promised land? Because they listened to the wrong report. They listened to the 10 and not to the 2. They listened to those who couldn't see God rather than those who19:52 could see God.19:56 Doctor Evans will come back with a closing song for us in just a moment. Okay. It's technically a story about a song, but he will be back. Stay with us. In the meantime, if you'd like to get a full length20:07 copy of today's message, including material we didn't have time to present on the air, you can get it as a part of Doctor. Evans' current 2 volume, 15 message teaching compilation, Living Above the20:18 Circumstances. If you contact us by Monday, the entire collection is yours as our gift of thanks in return for your contribution to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station. Along with it, we'll20:30 also send you the bonus booklet I mentioned earlier called Let It Go. Don't wait. Visit tony evans dot org right away to make the arrangements. That's tony evans dot o r g. Or reach out to20:42 our resource center at 1 808 hundred 32 22. It's open day and night 24 7. That's 1 808 hundred 3 2 2 2.20:54 There's an old song about people who need people being lucky. Doctor Evans says it's possible to need people too much. On Monday, he'll explain how to satisfy our craving for approval21:06 and acceptance in a healthier way. Right now though, he's back with a few words from another old song.21:12 All y'all know my favorite soul singing group growing up was what? Temptations. Temptations. You know, Eddie Kendricks, David Ruffin. And their most famous song of all was21:24 what? My Girl. My Girl. Right? Oh, David Ruffin broke out this, I got sunshine on a cloudy day. He said, when it's cold outside,21:37 I got the month of May. And then he said, now I know you don't know what I'm talking about because what you wanna know is, I guess, you say. What can make me, watch this,21:48 feel this way? And then he answered the question. He said, my girl. He said, case you didn't hear me, I'm talking about my girl. What22:01 he was saying is, my external circumstances are dark, but the sun is shining inside. He said the hawk is biting on the outside,22:13 but I got a furnace burning on the inside. And I guess, you say. What can make me feel this way? He said, it's my girl.22:25 Now you know what he was saying? He was saying, I got a love relationship so high that it doesn't matter what's happening on the outside to determine how I feel22:37 on the inside, because how I feel on the inside is controlled by this dynamic relationship with my girl that on cloudy days, I got sunshine. And when22:49 it's cold, I'm warm and hot and burning up, and it's all because of my girl. I'm going somewhere. You may be in a cloudy situation right now. You may have a cloudy past.23:01 People may abused you before and you don't know where to go. Every day is dark, but I'm here to tell you today that you can have sunshine on a cloudy day. Your life may be23:13 cold and you may be shivering because of mistreatment and abuse. You may be trembling all over because things aren't going right. The doctor's prescription may not be in your best interest, but23:25 I'm here to tell you when it's cold outside that you can still have the month of May. Now I know what you're asking. I guess you say, what can23:37 make me feel this way? My God. I'm talking about my God. He gives me sunshine on a cloudy day. When it's cold outside, he can23:49 still give you the month of May, but he's got to be your God. Listen, I don't need no money, fortune, or fame. I got all the riches that this24:00 man could claim because of my God. I guess you say. What can make this preacher feel this way, it's my God. And I'm talking24:12 about my God. He can meet me in a mess and turn it into a miracle. That's my God. He can take my bad past and still give me a smile. That's my God.24:24 That's my God. Isn't he your God today? He can change your emotional stronghold. He can change the way you feel today.24:34 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.
