TONY EVANS HOUSE
Tony Evans - God Knows What He is Doing
What's the easiest choice you can make? Window instead of middle seat? Picking a vendor who sends a great gift basket, outsourcing business tasks you hate. What about selling with Shopify? (clicking) Whether you're selling a little or a lot, Shopify helps you do your thing. However you touching, Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage to the first real life store stage, all the way to the did we just hit a million order stage? Shopify's there to help you grow. Whether you're selling scented soap or offering outdoor outfits, Shopify helps you sell. Wherever and whatever you're selling, Shopify's got you covered. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com/try. Go to Shopify.com/try now to grow your business. No matter what stage you're in, Shopify.com/try. If you're a facilities manager at a warehouse and your HVAC system goes down, it can turn up the heat, literally. But don't sweat it, Granger has you covered. Granger offers over a million industrial grade products for all your operations, including warehouse HVAC maintenance. And even better, they offer access to experts and fast delivery, so you and your warehouse can both keep your cool. Call 1-800-Grange-er, click Granger.com or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. Your view of God will determine your view of life, or your view of life will determine your view of God. If God is your reference point, then you will be able to make sense of that which has no sense. If your circumstances are your reference point, then you will neither be able to make sense of life or God because you have an inverted view. The second most important truth you could ever learn as a Christian is what I wanna speak to you about. I say the second because the first thing that you need to learn is salvation by faith in Christ. Becoming a Christian is the first thing. Nothing can preempt that as the first understanding to understand and respond to the gospel is of first importance. Paul says that in 1 Corinthians 15 of first importance, I declare to you the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But second to that is your understanding of the sovereignty of God. If you do not understand the sovereignty of God, then you will not be able to make sense of life. Most of us have lived long enough to know that life throws curveballs. Life is full of the unexpected. Life is full of pain and problems. Life is bittersweet, sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet, sometimes both. Your view of and therefore response to the sovereignty of God will determine your ability to cope with the confusion of life. Let's make sure we're on the same page. Let me define for you what I mean by the sovereignty of God. I'm simply saying that God is the absolute ruler and controller over all of his creation. Sovereignty simply means to rule over, to reign over, to be in control over, to say that God is sovereign, which speaks of his kingship, his kingly role, is to say that there is nothing that happens over which he is not in control. That control is either manifested either by direct causation, he makes it happen, or by consciously allowing it to happen. He either controls it, he says, "That's what I want to happen." So it happens. What? He says, "That's not what I want to happen, but I'ma let it happen 'cause I'ma use it for what I want to happen." You cannot have a sovereign God and have luck. You cannot have a sovereign God and have chance. You cannot have a sovereign God and have fate. Because that means those terms refer to things happening haphazardly with no order to them, with nothing in control, they just show up. God's sovereignty says that things don't happen. Things are under control when they're out of control. Or I like the way Ephesians 1 and 11 says it, that God does everything after the counsel of his own will, everything. He is creator, controller, and sustainer of all things. So we've got to establish this as the governing principle of life, the governing principle of life has to be the sovereignty of God. Therefore, you can never first appeal to your circumstances. If God is sovereign and you're not sovereign, that means your circumstances are not sovereign, God is. So the reference point for life must not be life, it must be the sovereignty of God. This leads me to probably the greatest verse, I would say in the Old Testament, maybe in the Bible when it comes to life circumstances, as it comes to the intersection of the sovereignty of God and that is found in Genesis 50. It comes at the end of a saga of a young man's life that we have spoken of often, his name is Joseph. Joseph has been sold into slavery by his brothers who were jealous of him. Joseph, having been sold in the slavery, winds up working for a man named Joseph. And named Potiphar because the slave owners took him to Egypt. They sold him as a slave to Potiphar where Joseph climbed the ladder of success and became Potiphar's administrative assistant managing all of his household affairs. While managing his household affairs, Potiphar's wife sought to seduce him and he refused. In her anger over his refusal, she cries rape, making Potiphar, of course, furious that this man who he had entrusted over all of his affairs would seek to rape his wife, which was not true. And Potiphar gets Joseph thrown in jail. So he sold in the slavery for no just cause. Now he's in jail for no just cause. While in jail, there are two men who are in jail with him. One man is sentenced to death, one man is set free. Joseph says to the man who's set free, remember me to Pharaoh, remind him I'm still here. The man who he talks to forgets. He's free, he's not remembering nobody else. And now he is now forgotten. This is 12 to 13 years of events I just described for you. Every time it looked like he was going up, Zoom, he went down, you talk about it's not fair. Joseph could say this is not fair. Pharaoh has a dream, he can't interpret that he doesn't understand. And I'm covering a number of chapters in the book of Genesis, a story that is riveting. He comes to a place where he has his dream, he can't interpret. And then the man in jail remembers. There was this dude in prison who was good at this stuff. He could interpret dreams. And since nobody can tell you what this dream meant, maybe you ought to call on him. I think his name was Joseph. Joseph is summoned up to Pharaoh, Pharaoh tells him the dream. What's the easiest choice you can make? Window instead of middle seat, picking a vendor who sends a great gift basket, outsourcing business tasks you hate. What about selling with Shopify? Whether you're selling a little or a lot, Shopify helps you do your thing. However you cha-ching, Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage to the first real life store stage, all the way to the did we just hit a million order stage, Shopify is there to help you grow. Whether you're selling scented soap or offering outdoor outfits, Shopify helps you sell wherever and whatever you're selling. Shopify's got you covered. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com/try. Go to Shopify.com/try now to grow your business no matter what stage you're in. Shopify.com/try. If you're a facilities manager at a warehouse and your HVAC system goes down, it can turn up the heat, literally. But don't sweat it, Granger has you covered. Granger offers over a million industrial grade products for all your operations, including warehouse HVAC maintenance. And even better, they offer access to experts and fast delivery so you and your warehouse can both keep your cool. Call 1-800-Granger, click Ranger.com or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. - Is your vehicle stopping like it should? Does it squeal or grind when you break? Don't miss out on summer break deals at O'Reilly Auto Parts. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ O'Reilly ♪ ♪ Auto Parts ♪ - Joseph says, this is the interpretation. There will be seven years plenty. There will be seven years famine. In order to get ready for the seven years famine, you're gonna have to store from the seven years plenty. Pharaoh was so awed by Joseph's ability to interpret dreams. He took him from the outhouse to the White House. Joseph in one day becomes the second in command in Egypt. Over 12 years of pain is overturned in one night. I mean, he couldn't climb that ladder as a Jew in 12 years if he had applied for the job and work at it. But through a supernatural lucky opportunity, he is placed second in command in a foreign land that are not his people. Through a series of events that is literally Hollywood. It's a Hollywood kind of story. His father and 11 brothers are caught in this famine. And the only place you can get food is Egypt. Egypt, because of the interpretation of the dream, has all this extra storage. So the only place you can get food is you gotta go to Egypt. So the brothers make their way up to Egypt. I'm going somewhere with this thing with me. They make their way up to Egypt to request food. Joseph recognizes. These are the boys that sold me in the slavery. These are my brothers. But they did not recognize him. Of course, years have passed. Last time they saw him, he looked like one of them. Well, he live in large land, things have changed. They don't know who he is. He knows who they are. Joseph does a number of things in the story to force them not only to come for food, but to come back. One thing he did was say, "Well, you leave your younger brother with me." By the way, how's your father doing? So he getting all the info, all the intel. The brothers come back. They are gathered in the room with him. Joseph must say, "Hold on for a minute." And he turns aside and goes outside and weep. He's bawling like a baby. In fact, five times in the story of the saga with Joseph and his brothers, it says, and he wept bitterly. A lot of reasons for the tears. One, seeing his brothers again. One, remembering what they did. I mean, it was a whole series of events. In chapter 45, you have to turn that yet. I'm going to show you something in a moment. In chapter 45, when the brothers are standing before him, Joseph clears the room of all the Egyptians. He says, "All you folks leave, and you folks leave me here alone with these men." And Joseph says, "Come near to me." Now, they want to know what is going on here. All we did was come up for food. Now, we are trapped in this circle that we can't break out of. Come near to me. Now, some time ago, I shared with you what my holy imagination thinks happened. Because it was on this occasion the Bible says, "Joseph revealed himself to his brothers." And from my perspective, the fact that he tells everybody else, because everybody else leave, he tells them, "Come real close." He wants them to see something that would validate his identity. And there was only one thing that would validate his identity, his circumcision. Thus, everybody leave. You come near. I am your brother, Joseph. Because only Jews were circumcised. Nevertheless, they are now terrified. Because the one they sold in the slavery is now in charge. You know what goes around, comes around. It ain't over, tell is over. In chapter 50, the brothers saw that their father was dead. Jacob is now dead, the father. And they are terrified. What if Joseph should bear a grudge against us? And pay us back in full for all the wrong we did to him. What if? As long as daddy was alive, out of respect for daddy, he withheld his hand. But not daddy, it ain't here to hold him back. What if he now is going to get even? So they concoct a story. They make up a story in verse 16. Your father charged before he died. Daddy told us to tell you. Please forgive who I beg you. The transgression of your brothers. And their sin for they did you wrong. Please forgive that transgression of the servant of God, of your father. And again, Joseph wept before them. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. His life got messed up because they messed him up. Has there been anybody in your life who's messed you up? What they did to you, what they did about you, how they put you down, how they treated you, how they renewed on you, whatever, whatever, whatever, it has messed you up for years. Because he went through 12 years of torture for something he had never done wrong. His brothers came to him and fell down and said, "Behold, you'll serve it." And then Joseph sends the words that are at the heart of my point this morning. Do not be afraid, verse 19. Am I in God's place? You meant evil against me. You did me wrong. But God meant it for good. In order to bring about this present result to preserve many people alive, it doesn't get stated any clearer than that. Am I in God's place? He says, "I am looking at this through a different set of eyes than you are." You're looking at what you did to me and what you did to me was wrong, but what you did to me is not my final reference point. What you did isn't the bottom line. What you did isn't the final point. What you did didn't make it over. He says, "You meant it for good. You didn't mean wrong, but..." You meant it for evil. You did me wrong, but God meant it for good. To bring about this present result. When life treats you wrong and you focus only on the wrong, then you're missing the point. When life treats you wrong, God is still in control. When it's not fair, it doesn't mean it's not God. When God allows people and things to do things to those who are committed to him, you can be assured that he's allowing bad things for a good reason. Let me say it another way. Anything that happens in your life because God is sovereign must pass through his fingers first. God has the power to stop it, reverse it, correct it, kill it. If he didn't, he wants to use it. You meant one thing when you saw me in the slavery, but God meant... What's the easiest choice you can make? Window instead of middle seat? What about selling with Shopify? Whether you're selling a little or a lot, Shopify helps you do your thing. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage to the first real-life store stage, all the way to the did we just had a million orders staged? Shopify is there to help you grow. Whether you're selling scented soap or offering outdoor outfits, Shopify helps you sell wherever and whatever you're selling. Shopify's got you covered. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com/try. Go to Shopify.com/try now to grow your business, no matter what stage you're in. Shopify.com/try. If you're a facilities manager at a warehouse and your HVAC system goes down, it can turn up the heat, literally. But don't sweat it, Granger has you covered. Granger offers over a million industrial grade products for all your operations, including warehouse HVAC maintenance. And even better, they offer access to experts and fast delivery, so you and your warehouse can both keep your cool. Call 1-800-GRANGER, click Granger.com, or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. Save on a Riley Break Parts Cleaner. Get two cans of a Riley Break Parts Cleaner for just $8, valid in store only at O'Reilly Auto Parts. O'Reilly Auto Parts. Something else when you told me in the slavery. You were thinking, "I'm mad, I'm irritated, we jealous of you, we don't like you, we don't want you here anymore." That's all you were thinking, but when God lets you get through with that, he was up to something else. He says, "And the reason God did it in verse 20 is that he might bring about this present result." He allowed an event 13 years ago to bring us to today. He allowed a negative in our past to bring about what you're looking at right now. In fact, boys, thank you for sending me in the slavery. Because when you put me in that hole and lied to daddy and told him I was dead, God allowed the Ishmael lights to come up and see me. And they took me. God allowed me to be sold by them to Potiphar. Then God allowed me to be put in prison for a crime I didn't commit to bring about this present result. And he says, "And to save the life of many." When you read the life of Joseph, there is a phrase that follows him, all through his life. And the phrase is simply, and the Lord was with Joseph. He gets accused of a crime, he doesn't commit, and guess what the phrase is, and the Lord was with Joseph. He gets thrown in the prison and the first phrase you read when he gets thrown in the prison and the Lord was with Joseph. How can the Lord be with me when all hell is breaking loose? How can the Lord be with me when I'm getting built and scorned and talked about show as you born? How can the Lord be with me when I've lost my job? How can the Lord be with me when my friends turn their back on me? How can the Lord be with me when my finances are where they ought to be? How can the Lord be with me? The Lord can be with you when things are against you because God is looking at where you're going, not where you are. You see, our problem is all we see is what we see. And if what we see we don't like, then our first question is to indict God, where are you? Unless you understand God is suffering and that he controls all things, either by determining them or by allowing them for a greater purpose, you're going to be stuck where you are. You're going to be bitter and you're going to be angry. God is so big, let me tell you how big God is, the Bible says that God holds the world in the span of his hand. Now the span of your hand is simply to open your hand and to measure the distance from your thumb to your pinky, that is the span of your hand. He wants you to know how big God is, he says God is so big that the whole world fits between his thumb and pinky of one hand. Now if the whole world fits between the thumb and pinky of God, he don't need his arm, he don't need to grab it, he don't need his feet to hold it up. He doesn't need all it needs is one hand and the whole world fits there. See, what you have to understand, what we have to understand is God is bigger than the sum total of his creation. He is not part of the creation, he is bigger than the creation, however he is involved in the detail. The same God who controls everything from the palm of one hand is the same God who doesn't miss a sparrow when it falls to the ground. So he is big enough to run everything and yet detailed enough to miss nothing. He did not miss what happened to you. But because Joseph had a view of God that transcended his circumstances, he could interpret his circumstances in the light of who God was. And God is so big that his plan can incorporate bad. He is so big, God can't do bad, God doesn't promote bad, but God can use bad for his plan. One of the proofs or tests of your spirituality is whether you see the hand of God when you are looking at the hand of man. I hope you will admit that. One of the tests of your spiritual progress is whether you see the hand of God when you are looking at the hand of man, especially when the hand of man is negative. You get your praise on when the hand of man is good, because then you are seeing, well that must be the hand of God. But when the hand of man is bad, if you are a spiritual person, you are watching the hand of God using the hand of man in its evil, in spite of its evil. Joseph was confident in the plan of God. Look at chapter 45. Verse 4, "Then Joseph said to his brothers, 'Please come closer to me.' And they came closer. And he said, 'I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold in the slavery.' So this way he calls him close. And now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, I am going to talk about that in a moment, for God sent me before you to preserve life. Don't get mad at what you did, because what you did God did. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing or harvesting. And God sent me before you to preserve you for a remnant in the earth to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God. And he made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all of his household to rule over the land of Egypt. You didn't send me here. Now let me show you another scripture, Psalm 105 verse 16. And he called God called for a famine upon the land. And he broke the whole staff of bread, and he sent a man before them, Joseph. And this is the Psalmist writing, many years later, after all his events had happened, and he sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They afflicted his feet with fetters, put him in prison. He himself was laid in iron, for a crime he didn't commit, remember? Until the time that his word came the past, the word of the Lord tested him. The king sat and released him, the ruler of peoples, and set him free. He made him Lord of his house, Pharaoh did, and ruler over his possessions to imprison his princesses at will, that he might teach the elders with them. And here's what I want to point out, Israel also came to Egypt. Israel is Jacob, Jacob's name was there in Israel. Alright, let's put this in perspective now, remember now. If you are on the same page with God, and bad things happen to you, you must look at the bad things as the hand of God, and not merely the hand of man. That's my point, God knows what he's doing. In allowing that to come to you, he knew it was coming, he decided not to stop it, so he must plan to do something with it. If you're a facilities manager at a warehouse, and your HVAC system goes down, it can turn up the heat, literally. But don't sweat it, Granger has you covered. Granger offers over a million industrial grade products for all your operations, including warehouse HVAC maintenance. And even better, they offer access to experts and fast delivery, so you and your warehouse can both keep you cool. Call 1-800-GRANGER, click Granger.com, or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. America, we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. By honoring your sacred vocation of nursing, you impact your family, your friends, and your community. At Grand Canyon University, our online RN to BSN, MSN, or DNP degree programs allow you to balance online coursework with local in-person clinical, practicum, or immersion hours. Find your purpose at GCU, Private Christian Affordable. Visit GCU.edu. You have confidence in me. Let's see. Do you trust me when man's hand is against you? When you are committed to God, and man's hand is against you, it's a test. God wants to see whether you trust him or not hear it. Do you trust him when it's going backwards? When it is going in reverse? Are you a blessing of me now? Are you worshiping him now? Are you giving him glory now? Are you coming to church now? Are you serving him now? Are you giving now? Are you responding like he's good even when it's bad? God allowed the negative to test you. God was up to something much bigger. In fact, the reason it took so long was because it was so big. Let me give you good news about a long test. If you're in a long test, it's because there's a big reason. So let me tell you the reason. It says Israel came to Egypt. God made a promise years earlier to their forefather named Abraham. I'm a make of you a great nation. I am going to make of you a great nation. And when I make of you this great nation, as part of this process of bringing this nation into being, God says you will be in a land called Egypt for 400 years. And out of that 400 year experience, I'm going to give birth to a nation that will come out of your offspring and this nation shall be my people and shall glorify my name. That goes way back. That's what Joseph's great granddaddy. That's way back. Question is how does God going to keep his promise? He got Joseph's brother to settle in the slavery. The slave owner sold him to an Egyptian. The Egyptian sent him to prison. He became the confidant of Pharaoh. He's the only one who could supply the food, which brings his 11 brothers up to Egypt. While they are now living in Egypt, they become the children of Israel expanding in Egypt. So guess what? God used the negative in one man's life to keep a promise about the building of a whole nation. Joseph went through deep waters because God was doing a whopping thing. When your waters are deep and they're lasting long, get your praise on. Because he's preserving something, he's building something, he's doing something. The problem is only spiritual people see this. The carnal are complaining. The carnal are cussing and fussing and rebelling. The carnal are spending all day asking why rather than spending time giving thanks in everything. God is up to something. If his delay is one negative on top of another and you're walking with him. See, Joseph was walking with God. And because he was walking with God, it was not wasted time. If you're not walking with God, you don't know what is going on. And you're mad all the time. Verse 21 of chapter 50, "So therefore do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones, my nieces and nephews." So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. I need to read that again. Some of you already know where I'm going. So therefore do not be afraid. I will provide for you and for your little ones. So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. When you have God's point of view, you can relate to people who hurt you differently. See, if all you see are the people who hurt you. You did this to me and I'm going to get you. All that's telling me is you didn't see the hand of God. You thought that was all about what they did. But because Joseph never lost sight of the hand of God, when they repented, yes they repented. They said, "We were wrong. We're sorry and we are scared." Because Joseph has the power of life and death. He says, "Don't be afraid. I not only forgive you, I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to comfort you. I'm going to help you." The recognition of God's sovereignty gave the freedom of forgiveness. Many of us are living life on a leash that we can't shake and Satan is holding the other end of the leash. Because we can't let it go because all we see is what they did. Because we do not have the eyes of God, we do not see what God was doing in allowing it, even though we were not at fault. Many of us are in shackles and are looking for ways we can get them. I'm going to get them. Let me show you 1 Peter 3.9. Not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead. For you were called for this very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. They're not going to tell you what I just told you in the street. They're not going to tell you that. But we're talking about a spiritual perspective. He says, "Ravident pain in back. Have the mindset of giving a blessing so you watch this inherent a blessing." Why? Because you are looking at what God is doing. He released them from their debts because he was looking at God's sovereignty. If Joseph would have held on to the grudge, he would never have passed the test. And if he didn't pass the test, he would never have inherited a blessing. He inherited a blessing because he passed the test. Many of us are being tested by the hand of a sovereign God, but he cannot elevate us because we refuse to take it or pass it. And we're living in bitterness and anger because we saw the hand of man and missed the hand of God. It's time to push the delete button because you're looking at the hand of God. It's time to set somebody else free so you can be set free because you're looking at the hand of God. You're not stuck with the injustice because God is up to something. And he decided to use the injustice to get you where he wanted you to be. He said, "God used it to bring me to this place." One of the reasons that I'm in Dallas today is a broken leg and a football game. A small thing, a broken leg and a football game. Power broke my tibblia and tibblia in a football game. Take it to the hospital, emergency surgery. I remember laying on the football field when this hit came. I was hit with a crossbody block after intercepting a pass by the way I held on to the ball. Just want to get that straight. I'm laying out on the field and I will never forget it. I'm saying, as I lay down on the field, not my will but I will be not because like football was everything to me. I live for football. But that produced a series of changes that led me to Bible College where I met a professor who encouraged me to come to Dallas Seminary and met a professor who challenged me to start a church. So we are here, as Joseph said, in this place. God wanted me in this place. And it was inspired because something got broken. If God is allowing something in your life to power, break, rather than simply going off on the one who hit you. Ask Lord, what is your will? What is your plan? What place are you taking me? When astronauts are learning to fly, they are put in a flight simulator where pilots are confronted with every kind of conceivable flight emergency. It is there in the simulator that they hone their responses and skills until they can successfully face them. They are given difficulties so that they can have the proper reaction when the real thing comes. The simulator really isn't a real thing. It just feels like it. They are preparing them in the test for when they get high, for when they are elevated, when they take off. God is allowing you in the simulator and shaking up your world to hone in your faith so that when he comes in and allows you to take flight, you know what to do up there because you learn what to do down there. (audience applauds)