Some read it but don't hear it.
Some read it and hear it but don't do it. Dr. Tony Evans says when you come ready to respond, the Bible starts speaking personally, not just historically. Bible reading will take on a new dimension because now concepts will come off the page, and you will hear God relating to you, not just talking to the people in biblical days. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.
Clutter can crowd out what really matters on our desks, in our homes, and especially in our hearts. Today Dr. Evans explains why Scripture can't do its life-giving work in us until we clear away the spiritual distractions standing in the way. Let's join him as he shows how growth begins with making room for God's Word. The Bible positions itself as a life-giving document. It means it is a life-giving source.
In other words, it imparts life. If you want to live, there must be a dynamic, meaningful relationship with the Word of God. To understand the concept of life in the Bible, you have to understand the concept of death. Ephesians chapter 2 gives the coroner's report. And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you formerly walked, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
Among them, we too all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. The coroner's report is in the first three verses, and he says, When you were outside of Christ, you were dead. But you said, But I moved, I walked, I talked, I raised the family, I went to work. How was I dead? Death has not anything to do with simply existence. You can exist and not be experiencing real life. In fact, I am sure there are people here today who merely feel like you're existing. You go through the motions of life, but you know inside you're not really alive. That's existence. The Bible says outside of Christ, men are dead.
Now they're at different states of decomposition. And what many people do is they simply trade one level of existence for another level of existence, all still operating in the same graveyard. So you must look at the backdrop of death having to do with a spiritual dimension, where there is no relationship with God, you are dead. Jesus says, I have come to give you life. And then on top of that, I have come to give it to you more what?
Abundantly. I've come to give you abundant life. So Jesus has come to give you two kinds of life. He's come to give you the reality of life, and then he's come to multiply that and turn that into abundant life. It is the job of the word of God to move you into life and then into abundant life. It's occurred to me that the problem is not the need for more Bible study. It's not the need for just more information.
It's not the need for more classes. There is a bigger need for spiritual dialysis. Your kidneys. It's the job of your kidneys to purify your blood by removing the waste so your blood can do the job of taking the good stuff to the rest of your body so that you can be healthy. But when a kidney goes bad, that means the junk in the blood is being filtered throughout the body.
Now watch this. If you got a bad kidney that's not filtering the junk in the blood, it doesn't matter how good you eat. It doesn't matter how many vegetables, how green they are.
It does not matter how many fruits, how ripe they are. All that becomes irrelevant because there is no filtering process. And the best diet in the world won't keep you alive when there is no kidney working and you're not on dialysis. If you're on dialysis, you got to go two or three times a week every week to keep the blood clean so that real food can do its work.
This is real food. But why if we eating it at church on Sunday, at church on Wednesday, and maybe reading a verse a day to keep the devil away all week long, am I still dead on the inside? Because there are impurities that have not gotten cleansed.
And with those impurities there, the good food can't stick. We know the Scripture is alive because of its power. I quoted it in Hebrews 4-12, the word of God is alive and active. It's powerful, it's sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit.
It gets down to your gizzard. You know the Bible is alive because it makes you uncomfortable. Have you ever been made uncomfortable by the Word?
If you haven't, that's because you're not listening. The job of the Scripture sometimes is to make you shout. Sometimes is to get you excited, but sometimes to make you squirm, and sometimes to make you cry, and sometimes to convict you, and sometimes to make you want to run out of church. You ever felt like God was just talking to you, like exposing you? You ever felt exposed by the Word of God? The Bible says the Word of God exposes.
You ever felt like sliced open in public when your name was not even used? That's because the Word of God is alive. But because we don't like exposure, none of us do. It's easier to stay away from it, either by not dealing with it directly or not letting it deal with us. When we hear it, we tune it out, and so it loses its influence. It loses its connection. I've got a cell phone, and the moment I detach it, it loses power. For the rest of the day, it's losing power, and every time I talk on the cell phone, it's losing more power. Till there comes a time when it's powerless, and I can't communicate at all.
You know why? Because it's been away from the power too long. Satan's job is to get us away from the Word so he gets us away from the power. And when you've been away from the power long enough, you don't hear anything from God. You want to hear his voice, but you can't hear because you've been doing your own talking too long.
You've been doing the talking, not the listening to the Word of God. So, what do we do? We say, okay, I want to live. I don't want to exist. I don't want to go through the motions. I want to be alive on the inside.
Let me tell you a secret. If you're alive on the inside, you can handle a bunch of junk on the outside. See, the problem is, if stuff around you is dead, and you dead too, then you've got a double problem. Because now you can't handle the stuff out here, because you can't handle living in here.
But if you are alive on the inside, you can handle a bunch of stuff on the outside. How am I going to handle these children? How am I going to handle this husband? How am I going to handle this job?
How am I going to handle this? My stuff out there is dead. I'm living in a graveyard. But the question is not simply, are you living in a graveyard?
The question is, are you living in a grave? You can be alive in the most dead scenarios when you've been made alive by God's Word. Now let me show you one central verse, and that is Revelation chapter 1. Three things he says for the Word of God to give you this life that it's designed to give you.
Here it is. Verse 3, Revelation 1 verse 3. Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it, for the time is near.
Somebody didn't see that. Let me read that again to you. Blessed. Somebody say blessed.
Everybody wants to bless sin. Well, let me tell you how to be blessed. To be blessed means to be full, satisfied, content, and happy. If you are miserable 24-7, you're not blessed. Because remember we said in Proverbs 10-22, you know the blessing of the Lord, for it has no sorrow with it.
So if you're miserable most of the day and joy comes out and takes a peek every now and then, but you're just one miserable creature. Blessed is he who reads, who hears, and who heeds the Word of God. If you're ready to trade misery for blessing, it all begins with opening God's Word. Up next, Dr. Evans shares how to start engaging Scripture in a way that brings life.
Don't go away. The Bible makes it clear that you know when God has cursed a land, when its fathers are nowhere to be found. Dr. Tony Evans says that what becomes of the next generation of men depends on what happens with this one. Our kids need to see men in their midst who love God and who love them. But what does it take to be that kind of man?
You can find out with the help of the Tony Evans Training Center's free course called Kingdom Man. It'll teach you to see past the phony images of manhood that society surrounds us with and become the loving leader that a wife and family would want to follow. As with all of our courses, there's in-depth study material you can work through at your own pace, lots of exclusive content from Tony, tightly focused Q&A videos, and an online forum where you can collaborate with other students. It's almost like having a seminary on your smartphone.
Check out the free course called Kingdom Man and the growing list of other subjects waiting for you. Visit tonyevans.org today and follow the link to the Tony Evans Training Center. The message you're hearing today is part of Tony's inspirational series, The Benefits of Scripture. In these six powerful lessons, Dr. Evans unpacks what the Bible does for us, from giving direction and victory to producing spiritual freedom, blessing, and life itself.
It's a compelling reminder that Scripture isn't just information, it's transformation. We'd love to send you this complete six-part audio series as our thank you gift when you support the ministry of the alternative. And as a special bonus, we'll also include the Tony Evans Bible Commentary, a comprehensive resource where Tony walks through every passage from Genesis to Revelation, exploring the context, explaining the background, digging into the deeper meaning, and showing how to apply what you learn. This exclusive package will only be available for a limited time, so visit us today at tonyevans.org to make your donation and request, or call our resource team any time at 1-800-800-3222.
I'll repeat that contact information after part two of today's message. Here's Dr. Evans once again explaining how to engage with God's Word in a deeper way. Number one, find out what God says. Read. You pick up the Bible and you read. Start anywhere you want.
Because there's no one way. You can read through the Bible, that's one way to read. You can do an Old Testament chapter and a New Testament chapter. You can read a New Testament book, but he says read. Read regularly, not periodically. Read regularly. Why? Because we're talking about food.
You don't eat periodically. So read regularly. That's number one. Okay?
A regular time in the Word of God, because guess what? It's alive. Secondly, hear the words. You say, but nobody talking. I'm reading. What does he mean by hear?
Here it is. Internalize what God tells you from what you read. Because God has something to say. He's not saying read so I can teach you how to read.
It's not a course in phonics. He has something to say. He says read and then listen.
Boy, I love the way Jeremiah said it in Jeremiah 15 verse 16. He said, I found your words and I ate them, and they were sweet to me. To eat something, you have to chew it, right? Got to chew it. Then you have to swallow it, because the goal of the food is to get inside you. Not simply for you to be able to say, oh, that looks nice, that smells nice, that has this in it and that in it.
No, no, no. He says hear it, meaning, and the Bible says in the book of Revelation, hear what the Spirit has to say to the churches. To hear the Word is to say, God, I'm reading, you start talking, I'm listening. You develop that mindset to the Word and you'll hear. Because now you're saying, talk to me from the Word. Why won't we hear from God more?
Because we're not saying enough talk to me. I'm listening, which means to internalize it, you have to apply faith. You have to say, Lord, I believe your Word is true. I believe you have something to say to me.
I'm ready to listen. Then Bible reading will take on a new dimension because now concepts will come off the page and you will hear God relating to you, not just talking to the people in biblical days. Thirdly, heed the things which are written in this book. Or as James 2 would say, be doers of the Word, not hearers only. Ezekiel 18 verse 9, he says, if you will do what I say. Ezekiel 20 verse 11, if you will do what I say. Why is not the Word of God working more?
Because we eclipse this process. Some read it, but don't hear it. Some read it and hear it, but don't do it. Some don't read it, hear it, or do it.
Let me turn you to one other passage. Luke chapter 8, verse 11. Now the parable is this. The seed is the Word of God.
It's using a farming illustration. Food, seed, seed is the Word of God. And those beside the road are those who have heard. Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart so that they may not believe and be saved.
So this is the non-Christian who doesn't accept it. The devil snatches it before it takes root. Verse 13, and those on rocky soil are those who when they hear receive the word with joy. They're shouting in church.
And these have no firm root. They believe for a while and in time of temptation or trial they fall away. So they get excited on Sunday, but it never takes root so it doesn't last on Monday.
It's gone. Verse 14, and the seed, which is the Word of God, which fell among thorns, these are the ones who have heard and they go out on their way, but they are choked by the worries, the riches, and the pleasures of this life, and they do not bear fruit to maturity. In other words, they get distracted. We've got too many television programs to see, too many movies to see, too many this to do, too many that to do, and we get distracted from the seed so the seed doesn't give life, so we strangle.
You ever feel like you're choking to death? Verse 15, he says, and the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart and who hold fast and who bear fruit with perseverance. What's the difference between these four folks? Let me tell you the difference. It was the same seed, same seed, same seed in all cases, different hearts. You know why some people have changed? When the seed hits, it hits a ripe heart. Why some can shout on Sunday and it doesn't go to Monday?
A temporary heart. Why some really are sincere, they really mean it, they walk forward, they dedicate themselves, but when they walk out, why? Because there's so much stuff out there, it chokes it.
Weeds are all over the place, so they strangle. Here's how you'll know that you didn't hit it, that it's happening, and it'll happen every time. When the word of God takes root in a heart that's pursuing God, you're going to change. Stuff you've been trying to change for years, God is going to change for you. When a woman gets pregnant, life has been conceived on the inside.
When a person accepts Christ, life is inside of them, but there becomes a hookup, a cord. From mother to baby, for the purpose of transferring food, the baby receives what the mother provides and changes occur. If a woman is pregnant and there are no changes, something is wrong. Now, all the changes won't be the same in every woman, but every woman will have some change. Her shape will change. Husbands can testify, her mood will change.
Taste buds, which folks wanting pickles in the middle of the night, wanting ice cream that they should not be eating, because cravings change. Does a mother have to say, oh, I want to change? Oh, for a bigger belly. She doesn't have to request change. All she has to do is feed the life within. If she feeds the life within, change is inevitable. In fact, change is going to happen so that over nine months, she can't handle it no more.
Change is going to dominate and take over and totally consume her. Let me ask you a question. Does this suit look okay? Is this suit okay? I want to make sure. I know what you're asking now.
Where are you going with that, right? Does this suit look like it fits okay? Well, let me tell you about this suit. This suit actually doesn't fit okay. It fits better. Let me tell you why this suit fits better. Because I've been cutting out sweets, I've been eating more vegetables and fruit, and I've been working out at 6.30 or 7 o'clock in the morning.
So it's hanging better. Because I've lost 10 pounds. And I've lost... When I changed my diet, it changed me. When I started eating better and eating right and exercising, it made me better. And let me tell you something about change. When you get a taste of it, you want to keep it going. When you get a taste of it, when you feel what it feels like to be alive, you want to live more. This is the Word of Life. Dr. Tony Evans, encouraging us to keep leaning in to the life-giving power of God's Word. And if today's message inspired you, don't miss the full six-part series, The Benefits of Scripture.
It takes you deeper into what the Bible does for us, from giving direction and freedom to producing victory and spiritual life. And as a special bonus, we'll also send you the Tony Evans Bible Commentary, an easy-to-use resource that walks you through every book of the Bible with clear, practical teaching and helpful insights. Both resources are yours with our thanks when you support this ministry with your donation. Visit tonyevans.org to make your request while this limited-time offer is still available. Or call us at 1-800-800-3222 to connect with our resource team. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or call 1-800-800-3222. When the power goes out and we're suddenly surrounded by darkness, even familiar spaces can feel disorienting. On Monday, Dr. Evans talks about the light of Scripture, how its guidance brings clarity, confidence, and direction when we need it most. I hope you'll join us.
