TONY EVANS HOUSE
Tony Evans - Power in Prayer
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Summer of Cinema on Pluto TV, stream now, pay never. Many of us have been around pollution, or passed by polluted sites that had a stench to them, and we had to breathe it, and it was very uncomfortable. We've often said, what is that smell? If we weren't sure what it was, all we knew was, it was very disconcerting, very uncomfortable. And so we quickly desired to pursue good air, clean air, uncontaminated air, so that we could function. It's hard to function when the air is putrid, when it has been contaminated by that which causes a loss of sense. Jesus had been talking about the decay in the culture, and how that decay was a decay of death. It was the smell of rottenness. And in the last verse of chapter 17 of the book of Luke, when the disciples wanted to know, when is this return that you're going to make? When is this judgment on the culture going to occur? He says in the last verse, where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered. He says, when you see a corpse that has died and Ricker Mortis is setting in a vulture circle, waiting for the demise in order that it might pounce on them and render judgment to the decaying or diseased or dead body. He talks about vultures circling around this thing called death. It is clear that you and I live in an environment in a world that has been contaminated by sin bringing about a smelly way to live, a polluted world, which leads Jesus to identify a widow, a woman, to make an astounding principle that I want to leave with you today. In this polluted society, where death reigns and vultures gather, he told them a parable. He states the premise of the parable up front. He says, in verse one, at all times, men ought to pray and not to faint some of your versions read, others' versions read lose heart. The idea is quitting, throwing in the towel, saying, "I can't take it anymore." To faint means to become weary or discouraged and want to give up. Has anybody ever fainted? You can't take it anymore. You don't know how much longer you can endure this because the circumstances hovering around you, the vultures that are hovering around you are indicating a situation that is dead or dying, and you see absolutely no hope. The air is stale. In this stale air, Jesus says, "I want to tell you, men should always pray and not faint." In other words, when the air is stale, you got to rise above it to where the clear air is. Men ought always to pray and not to faint. That is, you know air is stale because you are breathing. Your nostrils are taking in the sense and you are breathing regularly, so you are smelling stale air regularly in terms of when you're in a putrid environment because you're breathing it. And so there's no way to get away from it because you're always breathing. He says, "Men ought to always pray and not faint." In other words, prayer is to be like breathing. The only time when you are conscious about breathing is when it's hard to do it. We breathe all the time, but don't think about it until there's a problem. If there's an asthma problem or an allergy problem, or some problem that creates the need for additional oxygen, breathing now becomes a conscious activity because it's being interfered with. He says, "Men ought to always pray and not faint. Men ought to always be in communication with God because your ongoing breathing in prayer will keep you in good air, even though you may be living in a bad atmosphere where the vultures are circling." There are people here to gather today where the vultures are circling around your life and ready to pounce on your situation because death has set in. Things don't look like they will ever get better. Things don't look like they will ever change. Things don't look like they will ever work out for you. And all you see are things going downhill and the vultures circling, ready to pounce on you and do you in. Coming off of that, Jesus says to His disciples, "Men ought to always maintain contact with God, like breathe. It should be so normal that you're doing it even when you're not conscious, you're doing it." Because it's an orientation, not just a position. Prayer is not just getting on your knees, it's not just clasping your hands, it's not just closing your eyes. It's not even just mouthing words. Prayer is an atmosphere of operating. You are operating in connectivity with God. Or as the word we've looked at, this wins the abiding. This is the air I breathe. The song says, "I am in constant contact with God." Which means that you are praying more than you know you're praying. See, sometimes we're praying and we're praying and we identify the formal times. But there ought to be informal times because if prayer is an atmosphere, if it's a breathing, then that means you're in contact with God as a normal way of functioning, not just as a scheduled activity that you do. There's this orientation. He wants men to always pray and not think. That's His thesis, His major point. Where God is interfaced with as a way of life, not simply as a schedule. There ought to be that, the time in your closet, a scheduled program. That leads him to a story that he wants to tell about this that is extraordinary. And most of us have read this story many times, but perhaps an official message from Medicare. The law is helping me save more money on prescription drug costs. You may be able to save too. With Medicare's extra help program, my premium is zero and my out-of-pocket costs are low. Who should apply? Single people making less than $23,000 a year, or married couples who make less than $31,000 a year. Even if you don't think you qualify, it pays to find out. Go to ssa.gov/extrahelp, paid for by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This summer, saddle up with the only sportsbook where you can bet on horse racing. FanDuel. 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Just download the app or go to fanduel.com/horses to score your no-sweat bet up to $500. 21+ in present in Colorado. Offer valid on first real money wager of $5 or more. Verify FD Racing account required. Bonus issued and non-withdrawable racing site credit that expires seven days after issuance. Max refund $500. Restrictions apply. See terms at racing.fanduel.com. Gambling problem, call 1-800-Gambler. It's something in here that you may never have seen before. Yeah, I believe it is the epicenter of the point of the parable and will totally change your life, my life, if we grasp it. In a certain city, we're told, there is a judge who does not fear God nor men. In other words, he doesn't care what God thinks and he doesn't care what people say. Because he is the judge. During biblical times, it was a lot like Western times when there would be the circuit judges and the Western towns would wait for the judges to come to hold trials and their judges would go from town to town to town and they would hold the criminals in the town jail until the judge came to render a verdict. So they were circuit judges. And so these judges would go from town to town to town to mitigate cases relative to issues that had popped up in the town. So there is this judge, but we're told something about the judge that the judge is an unrighteous judge. In other words, he does not operate legally. He does not operate according to the rules. He makes up the rules as he goes and he doesn't care what God thinks or what rules men have passed. He's going to do his own thing. Judges like this were easy for bribes. The wealthy could always be set free because the wealthy could buy their way out of their problems and since he wasn't righteous, he could easily be bribed. So we're told that there is this judge. He's going to render judgment, but he's not going to do it righteously. So that's the man and he doesn't care what God thinks. He doesn't care what man says. There is also a widow in the story. There's a woman. She's been married, most likely their children. We don't know that for sure, but we know their husband has died. Now, when Jesus tells the story, he picks the weakest scenario he can pick. Because in the Bible, the lowest of the low are the orphans and the widows. From Genesis to Revelation, when God wants to make a point about the lowest of the low, he will pick orphans and widows. This widow had a number of problems based on biblical history. First of all, there was little protection for women. Women were not viewed as high as valuable as they were created to be, and that was the norm of the culture. Not only that, but she has no husband, so there's nobody to stand in for her. She must stand on her own. In addition to that, widows in the Bible are normally postured as being poor. Without financial resources, because there's no husband providing, so she's out on her own. In addition to that, the fact that she has to plead her own case means she has nobody in her circle of influence who can stand up for her. She must stand up for herself. So here we have a woman out there by herself on her own trying to make it. Now the situation is that there is something or something has happened in which she has been wronged. Something has happened that needs to be addressed legally. Something has gone wrong. Perhaps it had to do with money. Perhaps she was ripped out of some of her husband's estate. We don't know what the specific issue is, nor do we need to know. The point was that this widow needed legal intervention, say legal intervention. She needed the law to work for her. She needed the law to mitigate between her and some situation she faced that could only be addressed legally. So there is this widow in the city who keeps coming to the judge saying give me legal protection from my opponent. I have got somebody in my sphere who's working against me and who is opposing me and he's doing it illegitimately. There is somebody in my life doing me wrong, my opponent, and I don't have the power to stop them. I'm a widow. I don't have a lot of money. And they're coming up against me and I need the law to work for me. I wonder if there's anybody here who's in a situation that's coming up against you and the folks who are supposed to be able to help you are unavailable to you. She goes to the judge because she says she needs, here it is, legal protection. I can't protect myself. I need the law to protect me. Judge, will you intervene on my behalf so that I can get my opponent off of my back and get justice in my situation? Verse 4 says, for a while, the judge was unwilling. The judge says, I don't want to be bothered. I don't want to be bothered with the widow. I don't want to be bothered with your problem. I don't want to be bothered about your opponent. I don't want to be bothered. I don't care about your situation because I don't even care about God. And I don't care about people. And you're the lowest of the people, a widow, so I really don't care about you. So for a while, it says he was unwilling to hear her case, although she had a legitimate case. Stick with me here. It says, but afterwards, he said to himself, self? Even though I do not fear God, pagan judge, and I do not respect man, yet because this widow bothers me. That means it's nagging me. After all, she's a woman. Let's give the benediction. This woman, the judge is a man. This woman is getting on my nerves. Let's say she is driving me nuts. He says, I don't respect God. I don't respect man. I will give her legal protection, say legal protection. According to verse 3, she was thinking legal protection, say legal protection. Keep that in mind. I'm going somewhere. Even though I don't fear God, I don't fear man. Otherwise, if I don't do something about this lady's problem, she's going to keep coming to me. Every time I show up, she shows up. Every time I have another person's case, she brings up her case. This woman won't let me go. She won't get off my back. If she keeps coming, watch this, she will wear me out. Anybody ever been worn out by a woman? I hope you're sitting by yourself, mister. Just raise his hand like that. An official message from Medicare. A new law is helping me save more money on prescription drug costs. You may be able to save too. With Medicare's extra help program, my premium is zero, and my out-of-pocket costs are low. Who should apply? Single people making less than $23,000 a year, or married couples who make less than $31,000 a year. Even if you don't think you qualify, it pays to find out. Go to ssa.gov/extrahelp, paid for by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. How dangerous is it to unwrap a burger at 40 miles per hour? More so than you think. In a little over two seconds, your car can travel slightly more than 117 feet, which is the same length as 20 bicycles. Anything that distracts you while driving is dangerous. That's why driving while texting can be deadly too. So put it down, it can wait. Don't drive distracted, shift into safe. A message from the Colorado Department of Transportation. Every day, we rise, challenging ourselves to work for what we believe in. At U.S. Border Patrol, protecting our borders is more than a job. It's a calling. Agents answer the call, working together to keep our country and communities safe. If you are ready for a new mission, join U.S. Border Patrol and go beyond. Learn more at cpp.gov/careers. He says this woman is going to wear me out. The Greek word wear me out literally is rendered. Give me a black eye. Give me a black eye. The issue was not that she was going to punch him out. To give a black eye meant to ruin my reputation. To give a black eye means to ruin the person's reputation. He says if this woman keeps coming, she's going to ruin my name. So this is what the woman was doing. In order to ruin his name, that meant she would have to be telling other people about the unjust judge. To ruin somebody's reputation, you're ruining their reputation among others. So evidently this woman would show up at a court scene and say this judge is not right. He ain't right. I've been having a problem and he won't give my problem. He's not right. He knows he's not right. He's an unrighteous judge. He doesn't care about God nor man. He doesn't want everybody to know he's not right. He just wants he to know he's not right. And if this woman keeps coming, it's going to be clear to everybody I'm not right. And I don't want to look not right to everybody. So to get this woman off my back. To get her out of my grill. To get her off of me. What I am going to do is I am going to give her legal protection, say legal protection. I am going to address her situation so that I can get her off my back. So that I can save my reputation. Let me say that again man. I'm going to get her off my back so that I can save my reputation. I need to say that one more time. I'm going to give her legal protection. Not because I want to give a legal protection. Not because I care about this woman. I want her off my back. And I want to protect my reputation. So therefore I'm going to intervene in her circumstances. Now that's the parable. That's the point. Now Jesus wants to apply it. Why are you telling us this Jesus in this place of bad air where the vultures are circling. We are to maintain constant contact with God. And you tell us the story about a judge and a widow woman. What's the point? And the Lord said verse 6. Here what the unrighteous judge said. In other words pay attention to the unrighteous judge. Now the widow is critical to the story but to get the part of the story. Pay attention to what the unrighteous judge says. I don't fear God. I don't fear men. But this woman is driving me crazy. And she's going to ruin my reputation. Pay attention to that Jesus says. And then make a contrast. Here's the contrast. Verse 7. Now will not God bring about justice for his elect who cry out to him day and night. And will he delay over them long. Jesus says this. Listen to what the unrighteous judge said because he says if you miss what the unrighteous judge says you're going to miss the whole point. He says an unrighteous man who didn't care about God. He didn't care about people. He didn't care about legalities. He didn't care about justice. He cared about his reputation. He cared about his name and not being nagged to death by this woman. He was out to protect his name and in order to protect his name he had to respond to this woman because this woman was giving him a black eye messing up his name, his reputation. He had to do something because as bad as he was he cared about his reputation. He says not if a wicked judge cares about his reputation. And he wrong but he still cares about his reputation. Will not God, who's not an unrighteous judge, he's a righteous judge, will not God. Verse 7 bring about justice, bring about justice for his elect. The widow was a stranger to the judge. The elect are not strangers to God. The elect are God's chosen ones. They're God's children. You and I who belong to Jesus Christ make up God's elect. If an unrighteous judge who doesn't care about God nor men will bring legal protection to a stranger to protect his reputation. How much more will God bring about justice to his children, his elect, since he's the righteous judge and does care about justice and will he delay long over them? Now what I want to draw your attention to is afraid that I've been asking you to repeat. Legal protection. See it's easy to read the story and twice in the story the word legal protection is raised. Twice. And it's cousin is raised in verse 7, justice. She was seeking justice through the legal protection of the law. Let's put it another way. The issue for the widow was not whether the judge liked me. It was not whether the judge knew me. It was not whether the judge felt sorry for me. The issue on the table was the law. I need you to bring the law to bear on my situation because I'm being unjustly treated by my opponent. I need legal intervention. Men are always praying and not faint. But what gets God's attention is not simply in feeling sorry about you in the situation you're in. It's not merely I'm seeing you cry. It's not merely him seeing your depressed. What brings Kevin down the earth in the vulturous situation you may be facing is called down your legal right. The issue was your legal right. See what the woman had. She did not have the judge on her side. She had the law on her side. And even though the judge didn't care about the woman, she kept bringing up the law says. And when she brought up the legal thing, he had to deal with that because for him not to address the law was to kill his reputation because the judge was obligated to the -- An official message from Medicare. A new law is helping me save more money on prescription drug costs. Maybe you can save too. With Medicare's extra help program, my premium is zero and my out-of-pocket costs are low. Who should apply? Single people making less than $23,000 a year or married couples who make less than $31,000 a year. Even if you don't think you qualify, it pays to find out. Go to ssa.gov/extrahelp. Paid for by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. How dangerous is it to unwrap a burger at 40 miles per hour? More so than you think. In a little over two seconds, your car can travel slightly more than 117 feet, which is the same length as 20 bicycles. Anything that distracts you while driving is dangerous. That's why driving while texting can be deadly too. So put it down. It can wait. Don't drive distracted. Shift into safe. A message from the Colorado Department of Transportation. Now let me explain what I'm trying to say here today. What I'm trying to say here is that God who cares about us, we're part of the elect, whose righteous has concern about his law. That is, God has obligated himself to his own word. God has obligated himself to what God has said himself. God is tethered to his own law. God can't do what the unrighteous judge was trying to do because God by nature is righteousness. Righteousness is the divine standard, so God is tethered to his own standard. So God is always going to operate in concert with his own law. Now, the woman calls for legal protection. Watch this now. Because she knew she had the right to it. In other words, let me put it another way. If she didn't know what the law was, if she didn't know that the law, there were rules in the law book to deal with the situation she was facing, she wouldn't have been able to call on the law because she wouldn't have known the law applied. It was her knowledge that there is a righteous law in the book that deals with my opponent in the situation, and I'm going to the authorized person, the judge, to render the law on my behalf that took her to nagging the judge. She can nag the judge even though the judge didn't care about her because she knew what was written. That was in the law book that applied to her situation. Not to know what was written, it's not to have a basis to appeal to the judge. Because remember, it says she wanted legal protection. She wanted something that would come from the law to act on her behalf. Hold your finger here. Turn back a couple of pages to Luke 13. In Luke 13, it's the Sabbath. The Sabbath was the law. It was one of the Ten Commandments. Jesus, a certain woman, verse 11, for 18 years, had a sickness caused by a spirit. And she had been bent double, bent over, and could not straighten up. And Jesus saw her. He called her over and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your sickness." He healed her on the Sabbath. And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made a wreck again and began glorifying God. But the semagogue officials, indignant because Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, "There are six days in which work should be done, so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath." So they're saying, "Jesus, you are out of order for healing this lady on the Sabbath." Jesus then says to them, "You hypocrites. Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox and his donkey from the stall and lead him to get water?" And this woman, watch this. And this woman, here it is, and this woman, a daughter of Abraham. Not just this woman, I want to tell you who this woman is. She's a daughter of Abraham, who's Satan is bound for 18 long years. Should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day? Watch this now. You hypocrites, you are releasing ox on the Sabbath from being tied up so he can get some water. I come to release a woman who's been tied up for 18 years on the Sabbath. You're upset about me releasing a woman when you're not upset about you releasing a donkey. Let me tell you Jesus says why I release this woman. I release this woman because this woman, he says, is a daughter of Abraham. Watch this now. The Sabbath was the law given under Moses. Abraham precedes Moses. He says there is a legal relationship I have to this daughter because there was a covenant made with Abraham by God that God would bring healing to his people in covenant with an Abrahamic agreement when the problem came from a spiritual source. We heard that the woman was bent over but her medical condition, watch this now, was tied to a spiritual condition. It said Satan had so messed up her life that it showed up physically and she had to walk bent over. It wasn't just because of her age. It wasn't just because of calcification in her back. It was because the devil had so intervened in her life that her physical problem was tied to a spiritual dilemma but the lady had something that the chief priest didn't understand. She had a legal relationship tied as a daughter of Abraham and because of the legal relationship it overruled the Mosaic law that said you can't do this on the Sabbath but if you don't know your legal relationship then you can't call on your legal relationship to deliver you from if some of us have been in problems, situations, circumstances and messes for 18 years and we wonder why God hasn't come through yet because we have not yet appealed to our legal right but why haven't we appealed to our legal right? We don't know our legal right and if you don't know the law you can appeal to the law. The widow knew the law and says because the law is in place I am going to bring up the law to bear. If an unrighteous judge will submit to the law even though he doesn't have regard for God and regard for man how much more will a righteous God who is committed to the law appeal to the legal cause of his people. We get and we pray but what we don't do is pray legally. In other words we don't make God have to appeal to his own law. We come with generalities and vague things that have nothing to do with not bless my day, bless my family, bless my food, bless my situation, bless me as I drive, bless me as I ride. Those are cutes, cutesies. He says an official message from Medicare. A new law is helping me save more money on prescription drug costs. Maybe you can save too. With Medicare's extra help program my premium is zero and my out-of-pocket costs are low. Who should apply? Single people making less than $23,000 a year or married couples who make less than $31,000 a year. Even if you don't think you qualify it pays to find out. Go to ssa.gov/extrahelp. Paid for by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. When you've been checked up for 18 years. When life has just messed you up. When you're like the widow and you have no place to turn you need to know you're right. Everybody it is an American citizen. You need to know you're right. If somebody wants to search your house and doesn't have a court-ordered right to come in there, you need to know you're right. You need to know you're right that you have a right to a lawyer if you are arrested. You need to know you're right because if you don't know you're right and a policeman arrests you who doesn't fear God and doesn't fear man, he could jack you up if you don't know you're right. But when you know you're right, then you can call with authority on that which you deserve because of your legal status. He says middle art to pray but not in some vague way. The best way to pray is to call God to have to respond to his own word. To call God to have to respond to his own truth. God, see the best way to pray is God. Here let me show you God. This is what you said. You said this. Let me read it to you God. You said this. In case you forgot God, you said this. I don't know if you read it lately God, but you said this. You wrote this. So I'm talking to you about what you said. You say, "Well, what difference will I make?" He tells you at the last verse. Hey, I tell you that he will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth? He says some of us have been waiting a lot longer than we should be waiting. Some of us have been struggling a lot longer than we should be struggling. Why? Because we'll talk to God about stuff, but we will not call on God in terms of his law, in terms of what he has written. And God is committed first and foremost not to your feelings, not to your circumstance. He's first and foremost committed to his rules, his regulations, his guidelines, and his law. That's why I love this too. The woman came and she verbally, publicly, rendered out what the judge was supposed to be doing. Because he's concerned about his reputation. So she is, watch this now, watch his word, decreeing what should be done. What does Mark 11 say? He says, "If you will say to this mountain, a mountain in the Bible is an impossible situation to climb over." That's what a mountain means. It's a circumstance you can't get over. It's a hump you can't get over. It's a situation you can't fix. It's a problem you can't solve. It's a situation that you can't change. That's a mountain. He says, "If you will say to this mountain, speak it." See, decree your deliverance. But before he said speak it, a couple of verses before it, and he says, "Is it not written?" So before he says speak it, you don't just go up to a situation and say, "Go, bye-bye, gone, disappear, hocus, pocus." No, uh-uh. It says before, "Is it not written?" And when Jesus says, "Is it not written?" Then he comes and says, "You can speak to this mountain." So here's what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to look at your situation. Look at your opponent. Look at your mountain. Look at your bent over situation. Then find out what God says about your situation. Says about your mountain. Says about your bent over situation. Then you're supposed to speak to your mountain. Speak to your situation. Speak to your scenario. And tell the situation what God said. Tell the person what God said. Speak to it in the name of the law and will not God move swiftly. Verse 8 says, "Won't he show up quick? Won't he come out of nowhere? Won't he show up in a way you never expected? If he can get you to function legally with him. To function based on his revelation. Not just based on how you feel. Not just based on the fact you're sad. Not just based on the fact that, you know, I've been in this a long time. You could be in it for another 18 years unless you remember you're a daughter of Abraham and that you have legal rights to be picked up when the devil has bent you over. He says, "Men don't always pray like this. They don't always talk to God like this." And he says, "When you relate to God like this, you will see him move swiftly." That means swiftly means all of a sudden. Swiffly means out of nowhere. Swiffly means where did that come from? That's what swiftly means. For the Bible says in Isaiah 46 that God will establish his purposes. The Bible says in Job 22 verse 28, "Decree what God is to do and so that God can get it done." So you ought to speak to your situation. But in the name of God, not your words, you ought to speak his words into the situation because God is not bound to what you think. He's not bound to what other folk think. He's not bound to how you feel. He's not bound to how other folk feel. He's not bound to what you've been raised to believe or what other people think you ought to believe. He's not bound to your mama. He's not bound to your daddy. He's not bound to your friends. He's not bound to your co-worker. He's not bound to your supervisor. He's not bound to your neighbor. He's not bound to your governor. He's not bound to your president. He's bound to his own words. And that's the only thing that he will commit himself to. Somebody ought to be willing to pray now. Somebody ought to be willing to call on him now. Day and night, night and day. You ought to get up and say that's what you said. You ought to go to bed and say that's what you said. I'm holding you to what you said. And he said that he can see that you're appealing to his law. Day and night, I don't know where. You will see divine intervention. Let's stand. An official message from Medicare. A new law is helping me save more money on prescription drug costs. Maybe you can save too. With Medicare's extra help program, my premium is zero. And my out-of-pocket costs are low. Who should apply? Single people making less than $23,000 a year. Or married couples who make less than $31,000 a year. Even if you don't think you qualify, it pays to find out. Go to ssa.gov/extrahelp. Paid for by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.