Any ability you have to do anything has come from God. Dr. Tony Evans talks about the importance of acknowledging the source of all goodness and power within your being. If you don't get that, then your whole philosophy of life will be off. This is the alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr.
Tony Evans. It's hard to thank someone for a gift when you don't know who sent it. Today, Dr. Evans reminds us that every good thing in our life comes from just one source. Let's join him as he begins.
One day an atheist was walking through the woods. And as this atheist was walking through the woods, he. was just admiring the beauty. that was surrounding him. He was looking at the Greatness of the trees.
listening to the singing of the birds. Feeling the blowing of the breeze. Seeing the various creatures that were out and about in the woods and the beauty of the foliage all around him. He was admiring. All that Mother Nature had to offer.
even though he did not believe in God. He heard some rustling behind him. And he turned around, and behind him was a... Seven foot grizzly bear. coming toward him.
He took off running and was terrified, but. The grizzly bear was catching up to him. Ever so closely. As he was running he tripped and fell. And then as he turned, the grizzly bear was atop of him.
With paws lifted up. The atheists cried out, Oh God! And when it did. Everything stopped. The wind stopped blowing.
The birds stop. Singing. The animals stopped. Moving. The bear froze.
And a light came down from heaven. And there was a voice. The voice said. Am I to take it now that you believe in me? Am I to take it now that you have changed your view About me and my existence.
Are you now a believer? The man said. I really don't want to be a hypocrite. I've gone all this time not believing, and I don't just want to. Say I believe now because I'm in trouble.
But if you would just make this a Christian bed. I'll be satisfied with that. The light went out. The breeze began to blow. The birds began to sing.
And the bear clasped his paws and said, for this food I'm about to receive. I give you thanks. It's easy to call on God when you're in trouble. It's easy to Appeal to him when life goes left. To make him an escape valve or an emergency.
Escape hatch. And not recognize him for who he is. To call on him when you need a bailout. To forget him when you've been bailed out. There's a whole system of Divine denial at work today called evolution.
Evolution is simply Fairy Tales for Adults. It is a Academic mechanism for divine denial. Because if I can get rid of God, then I don't have to answer to him. And so this theory runs deep. And beyond the creation of the universe, it is Not having to answer to the creator of the universe.
But in our passage today, David breaks forth. With excitement, exuberance. Enjoy. And who God is. It is the discovery of God.
For who he declares himself to be, not who you want him to be. That will forever change. Not only your view of him, but how you function in life. God said in Luke 12: if you will make the king and his kingdom your focus, Then you will experience not only God as creator, but God is daddy. And nothing will make God more real to you than when he shows up as Father.
So that he's not this distant being in never, never land. He's this personal. Father. Up close. in the needs and realities of life.
And if you've never experienced the fathering of God. And only settle for the knowledge about God. Then you've never seen what it's like when daddy comes through. and meet you and one of the things that is a requirement Is that you will recognize his king and his kingship first. When David cause this celebration at the Dedication of the temple.
He cites God as Creator. Owner And source. of all things If you don't get that. then your whole philosophy of life will be off. It will be skewed.
Throughout scripture God affirms he is. Creator? Owner And source. For all things. For example.
Psalm 50 verse 10 says, For every beast of the forest is mine. The cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you. For the world is mine.
and all it contains. In Psalm 24, verse 1. The earth is the Lord's, the fullness thereof, the world and all they that dwell in it, it's mine. He says in Revelation chapter 4, verse 11: I created all of this, and I created it for me. God is the source of all things.
The vehicles through which you get it is merely a resource.
Now, the reason why you need to know that. It's because when a resource goes left on you, you don't have to lose your mind because the resource wasn't for source. The resource was merely the mechanism That the source used to get you whatever you get. When you go shopping, The grocery store is not your source. The grocery store is a resource to distribute.
what you eat. It is not everything in the grocery store is dependent upon something God created. There is no vegetable. There is no meat. There is nothing in the grocery store that isn't dependent upon something that the source has provided, which is why if one grocery store runs out, you go to another grocery store, all you did was shift resources.
You didn't change sources. But the moment you make. Your job, your bank, your contacts, your stocks, your bonds, your talent, your gifts. Once you make that your source, Then that means you got to depend on that to fix itself when it breaks down because it wasn't a resource. You made it a source.
So you can't appeal to God because you told him, You're not the source. I'm the source. It's not working. I need it fixed. You got to fix you because you are your own source.
David says. All we give you is what you gave us. Because you were the source, he says in verse 14. He says, We're giving you generously because all things come from you and from your hand. We have given you.
We gave you what you gave us. I remember, I don't remember which kid was, but many years ago, one of the kids. Ask me for money so they could buy me a gift. They asked me for money so they could buy me a gift.
Okay, in other words, They were buying me a gift from which I gave them. The ability to do that. Any ability you have to do anything. has come from God. He is the source.
And you know what that means? Means you're free. Because that means nobody can own you now. No structure can own you now. If your job illegitimately fires you, or because of that, will come back on the workforce, you don't know that company was never your source.
That was merely the mechanism God was using at that time for your ability to earn money. But since it was never your source, it was only one resource that God happens to be using now. You can go back to your source, say, God, that resource didn't work.
So now that you're my source, what's the new resource that you want me to take advantage of? Because now you have gone to the source. It changes your perspective. It means you don't have to lose your mind. When the resources don't work out.
When that bank turned you down, well, that was one source. That was it. Resource, that was just a resource. God got a bunch of other resources. When we return to Dr.
Evans in just a moment, He'll give us an enlightening Old Testament history lesson on the Jewish Temple. But before we get to that, if you're ready to go deeper into discovering what it means to live out God's kingdom purpose, Tony's brand new book, Unleashed, is a great place to start. It'll help you apply what you're learning from these messages, seeing how God's power can transform your perspective, your priorities, and even the people around you. Along with the book, we'll also send you the companion Unleashed Bible Study Guide with bonus streaming video lessons from Dr. Evans, the perfect tool for personal reflection or group study.
And of course, you'll receive all 12 full-length audio messages from our current series, Unleashing the Kingdom. This complete package is yours as our thank you gift. when you make a contribution to help us keep bringing Tony's teaching your way each day. Get all the details right now at tonyevans.org. or call our 24-hour resource center at 1-800-800-3222.
and let one of our team members assist you. That's 1-800-800-3222.
Well, Dr. Evans will come back with more of today's message right after this. It's beyond a Sunday sermon, a chance to really dig into the Bible and the kingdom in a new way. anytime and anywhere because it's all online. The Tony Evans Training Center, in-depth courses on all kinds of topics, cultural transformation, intro to expository preaching, Jude, John, Hebrews, Old Testament, New Testament, and so much more.
These aren't sermons, they're teaching courses to help you engage, understand scripture, and not just to hear about, but to explore the kingdom of God on your own. Find out more at Tonyevanstraining.org. TonyEvanstraining.org. The context of this Passage is the temple. A number of times he refers to the temple.
So I want to take a brief moment, since that's the context. And it's the context of God's rule. To kind of clarify. The Temple It started off as a tabernacle, which was a mobile temple. Because they were wanderers through the wilderness, so they pitched the tabernacle.
and the tabernacle sat in the middle of the twelve tribes.
So the 12 tribes circled The tabernacle. When they got to a permanent location, then they built a permanent building, and the permanent building was called the temple.
So it was the mobile tent tabernacle, which became the permanent facility called the temple. The temple was designed to do three things. Number one. It was designed to provide Spiritual guidance for the nation of Israel. based on the statutes, commandments, and guidelines of God.
So the temple was the basis for spiritual instruction, spiritual knowledge to apply heaven's principles in earth's realities.
So that's what the temple did. Secondly, The temple was designed to provide an environment for care for the well-being of the people.
So the temple was designed so that the poor and the needy and the hurting and the struggling, it would be the centerpiece from which ministry would flow. That's where the priests and the Levites and those who were to serve the people were to function from based on the truth of the word in order to infiltrate the needs of the people coming out of the centerpiece of the temple. The third thing. The temple was designed to influence the culture. In fact, Moses says that when the people see around us How wise our God is with the way we operate based on the governance and guidelines of the temple, they will say, What kind of God is this?
That can raise up a people like that who operate in this way. You are to be influential from the temple into the culture. In Ezekiel 47, it talks about the life coming down the aisles of the temple, flowing out the door of the temple, down through the streets, and out to the world. Why? Because what was coming from the temple was influencing the environment.
So that the society gets to see God's point of view at work through his people.
So let me tell you what else is called the temple. The Bible calls your body the temple, 1 Corinthians chapter 6. He says your body is a house. It's a God hangout spot.
So how does God influence the culture? Because when the benediction is given, And we leave this house, the church house, But you still are a house. Because God dwells in you, and your body, if you're a Christian, is a hangout of God. When you go to work, they should be running into the church. When you're in your neighborhood, they should be running into the church.
When you are, you, you, they should be always. Everybody you run into ought to be running into the church because the Bible says your body is a house of God, your body is a temple, and the way you influence the culture is not leave the church at church, but be the church when you leave church so that everybody keeps running into the church. Because you represent the presence of God wherever you go, because God hangs out in your house. Yes.
So it's a temple issue. It's a house issue. For spiritual guidance based on his word, for ministry to people, particularly his people, and for influence in the culture. One of the reasons we've lost our influence is that the church has decided it wants to be more cultural than Christian. It wants to please the society rather than please the Lord.
It wants to operate on secular thinking rather than biblical thought. It is more tied to the kingdoms of this world than the kingdoms of our God and his Christ. And so God steps back. Because he said this is mine. And you're making it yours.
We have issues. And so the temple. is this representative location. That God hangs out. He says in Deuteronomy chapter 8, talking to the people and their ability to forget who their source is.
Verse 11: Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments, ordinance, statutes, which I'm commanding you today. Otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied and have built good houses and lived in them, when your herds and flock multiply and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud, and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. He then goes on to say, Otherwise, verse 17, you may say in your heart, my power and strength. of my hand has made me this wealth. But you shall remember the Lord your God, it is He who has given you the power to make wealth that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers.
He says, If you don't get up, you don't get to do nothing. If I don't give you the life to live, the breath to breathe, the strength to move, nothing else matters. Don't you forget the Lord your God? I am your source, because He knows when you move from a bicycle to a car, or from an old car to a new car, or from an apartment to a nice house, and from a nice house to a nicer house. He knows when you get up and going, when you move to your own platinum cards, and now you can now do living lodge and you can do your own thing, you might forget that I am the Lord your God, I am your source.
And the reason that that's important is... When you forget, he knows how to remind you. He knows how to let something happen to let you know you ain't all that no bag of chips. It says, they responded generously, but not only with money, but with praise. Says they broke out in praise.
When you read through the Psalms, You see praise after praise. I will bless the Lord at all times. And his praise will continually be in my mouth. Yeah. No.
I don't know if this is what you call it, but you're looking at your computer, you get these pop-ups. Is that what they call pop-ups?
Okay. I don't know much about this stuff, but stuff be popping up, okay?
So you're looking at the computer and stuff pops up. These are advertisements. Usually advertising something, wanting you to know about something, wanting you to buy something. You're doing this. But there's a pop-up out of nowhere.
that comes in the middle of what you're doing. As you live your life every day. Oh. Doing the normal things of life. And you recognize it's but the goodness of God.
God ought to get some pop-up praise. God, I thank you. I'm feeling okay today. I thank you that I could eat today. I just.
Just pop up praise. I just wanna thank you that you've been faithful to me today. Pop up, I thank you. I got a job to go to tomorrow. You give him pop-up praise.
That means you're praising him at all times. Praising them when it's not a church service. You're praising them when it's not a, when you're not saying grace. You're praising them when nothing special is going on. You're just letting them know: I know you, my owner.
I know you're my source. I know you're my supply. I know you're my sufficiency. I know you. I just want to know, I know you.
Give God some pop-up praise.
So they broke out in generosity. with their praise. with their celebration. with their giving. And it says they did it willingly and with joy.
They didn't think they were losing. They were excited. That we have the privilege of letting God know how we feel about it. Because we have a king and he's our kingdom and we want to put that king in his kingdom first. And I'd do it gladly.
Because I know who my source is. Yeah. Dr. Evans will return with a closing prayer to finish out today's broadcast in just a moment. But first, a quick reminder that what you've been hearing today is part of Tony's comprehensive sermon series called Unleashing the Kingdom.
Right now, you can receive all 12 full-length lessons in the collection. along with two brand new companion resources, Tony's Unleashed Book and the accompanying Unleashed Bible Study Guide with access to streaming video lessons. This powerful package is available for a limited time as our gift. when you make a donation to help support the alternative ministry. Don't miss your chance to be among the first to receive these new resources.
Visit tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3222 any time of the day or night to make your request. That's Tony Evans.org or by phone at 1-800-800-3222. A ship's rudder is crucial for the safety of the vessel and its crew. Without it the craft is at the mercy of wind, waves, and currents.
Well, tomorrow Dr. Evans talks about the importance of kingdom values and how they serve as the rudder for God's people, directing us to safe harbor. Right now, though, he's back to wrap up with his closing prayer. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for the word of God that goes forth through this ministry and for every ear that hears it.
I pray that you will use the word in the life of each person individually.
so that they know that they are hearing from you and are transformed by what they hear. I pray that that transformation touches them at their place of need. wherever they're hurting, struggling, wherever they're in pain, or wherever they're celebrating. May you be the center of that. And may they be able to say because of the word that they've heard and because of the true God that they're interacting with right now, that you have showed up.
and shown off on their behalf. doing good by them no matter what their circumstances happen to be. Thank you for how you're going to touch every listener today in your own special way. In Jesus' name, amen.
