The devil is having a good time with your joy, your peace, your health, your well-being. He and the demons and the ungodly are partying with your stuff. But Dr. Tony Evans says God has given us the power to change all that.
So you better go get your stuff back because the devil has no right to it. This is the alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Dr. Evans says everything we have has been given to us by God to manage.
But what happens when some of that inventory gets stolen? We'll find out who the culprit is and what we can do about it as we join him for today's lesson. What Satan has done is he has been the rogue of the universe. Entering into our affairs and stealing from us that which God. has or wants to entrust to us.
The passage I want to walk you through is 1 Samuel 30. David has come back. From a battle, only to discover in verse 1. That when he comes back to zig lag. On the third day that the Amlekites.
Have made a raid on the Negev and on Ziglag and have overthrown Ziglag, burned it with fire. They took captive the women. and all who were in it. both small and great. without killing anyone and carried them off.
and went away. There's been a theft. David finds himself. in a terrible situation.
So much and so that when David verse 3 and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire. Their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive. And David and the people who were with him lifted their voices and wept until there was no more strength in them to weep. And so. David.
And the men are distraught. But it gets worse. Verse 6. Moreover, David was greatly distressed. Because the people spoke of stoning him.
For all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and daughters. See, we get mad at folk when Satan is the cause of the situation. We get mad at the wrong enemy. It says they got embittered against David.
So now you got the problem. There's been a rip-off.
So, if you've been ripped off your joy, your peace, your career, your well-being, your identity, your relationships, your life. On and on and on and on and on. How do you get it back? The end of verse 6 says, But David, strengthened himself in the Lord his God. Then David said verse 7 To Abbathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech.
Please bring me the ephod.
So Abitha brought the ephod to David.
Now the ephod is a garment. It's like a robe. It was the official garb of the priest. That he would use As he pursued going into the presence of God. On the ephod was a breastplate.
Attached to the breastplate was the urum and thurum. These were like two stones. that were attached to the pouch on the breastplate. that circle the ephod.
So when the priest Needed to get guidance from God. He would go. and put on his ephod with the breastplate that had the urum and thurum. That was the mechanism that he would use to get specific direction. from God on the predicament that he faced.
David went to the priest. He says, let me have your ephod. Cause I got a problem. The enemy came here. Took everything I have.
My own people are against me. And I don't know what to do. I don't know where they gone. I don't know where they are. I don't know what to do and I need God.
to show me what to do.
So I need your eFOD. Because I need guidance in my problem. You see, there's only so much. The preacher can do.
So the best thing the preacher can do is give you an ephod. Because David wanted to hear from God for himself.
Sometimes people expect other people, because of their positions, to give God a solution to your personal problem when God wants you to put on the ephod yourself so he can deal with you directly. In First Samuel chapter 16, verse 13. David was anointed. King of Israel.
Now he was anointed in 1 Samuel 16, but he had not yet been appointed.
Okay, stay with me. He was anointed. You're gonna be king. But not yet appointed. He was not yet king.
When he was anointed, it says the Spirit of God came on him.
So watch this. He's anointed. The Spirit of God comes on him. But he's not appointed. He hasn't gotten the position yet.
So, between the time he's anointed and the Spirit of God comes on him, and he's appointed, and before he was appointed, he is. Stolen from. In other words, just because you've been anointed. And just because the Spirit of God is on you, don't mean the devil not going to take something from you. Just because God has saved you.
And just because you are. Living for the Lord doesn't mean the devil's not going to try to rip you off.
So he had the anointing. And he still got ripped off. You're on your way to heaven, but the devil has still ripped you off. You're saved, but the devil has still ripped you off.
Well, that happens in the process of living out the Christian experience. But let me make sure you understand. David got anointed. And you have the anointing. 1 John chapter 2, verse 20 and 27 say, All Christians have the anointing.
That means you have the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life. to give you your own ephod. Every believer has access to their own ephod, that is to get personal guidance in the specific situation that you are facing, because every believer has the anointing. The job of the pulpit is to encourage you to put it on. What's David's problem?
Here's his problem. He doesn't know. Hood though? He doesn't know where they've gone to, so he is without direction. I wonder if there's anybody here who doesn't know what to do next.
You don't know what to do in the situation, how to get out of the situation, how to prepare the situation, how to fix the situation, because it's been going on so long and you'd have lost so much that you're ready to throw in the towel.
Well, I just want you to know: before you throw in the towel, put on your e-five because God knows some stuff you're not aware of. Dr. Evans will return with a story of David's rescue mission. and what it has in common with the famous fairy tale. Don't go away.
My father was 90 when he passed, and I had to walk with him through that aging process, having trouble walking, using a walker, that whole process. The Unbound podcast, hosted by Dr. Tony Evans, explores deep topics to help you feel more centered in your faith. And a lot of children are dealing with aging parents.
So the question becomes: how do we walk with them? Find guidance for difficult times. Listen to the Unbound podcast. The new Unbound podcast with Tony Evans. Available now on all major podcast platforms.
Well, as we've been learning today and throughout this series, having the right kingdom perspective reshapes how we view every area of life. That's why Dr. Evans wrote Kingdom Stewardship. An insightful book designed to help you apply these powerful principles in your own life. If you make a contribution today to support our work here at The Alternative, we'll say thanks by sending you the book.
along with a complete Kingdom Stewardship Resource Bundle. It includes the full 12-message audio teaching series, a comprehensive study guide, and a leader's kit with exclusive downloadable video study sessions. making it easy to grow personally or guide a small group through these truths together. This is the final day we'll be offering this premium bundle of Kingdom Stewardship Resources, so take advantage of it today by visiting TonyEvans.org. or call 1-800-800-322 any time of the day or night.
A member of our resource team is ready to help with your request, regardless of what time you're able to call. The number again 1-800-800-3222. Right now, let's get back to Dr. Evans for more of today's message.
So David has a question. David's question is, Lord? Should I go after them? A very specific question. He says, He inquired, verse eight, shall I pursue the band?
Shall I overtake them? If I go, will I get them? And if I go and I get them. Am I going to be able to rescue? He gets a Rhema word, verse 8, pursue, go.
For you shall surely overtake them. And you will. Surely rescue all. God wants to see you walk by faith with the little He's revealed before He's going to give you more information. You got a lot of people waiting on God when God is waiting on them.
God is giving you a little bit. He's just giving you a little. But God, that's not enough information because God is saying, I want to see what you're going to do with the information I gave you before I give you more data. Because you might not keep going if you're not willing to respond to the little I've given you.
So you obey what there is to obey, and then God will show you more.
So He says, Get up and you go after them. I've got your back. He begins the journey to try to find out. it will become clear he doesn't know where to go.
So he's just going, hoping that God shows him.
Now watch this. Verse 11.
Now they found an Egyptian in the field. and brought him to David. and gave him bread and he ate. And they provided him water to drink. They gave him a fig cake, two clusters of raisins.
He ate. His spirit was revived. He drank water. He hadn't drank water and eaten food for three days and three nights. No way, man.
Women, watch this. David's all David's stuff is gone. People want to kill him. God says just go. You just pursue, even though you don't have the information.
And then we introduced to an Egyptian. What's that got to do with the price of tomatoes? But thrown in the story is something that doesn't seem that way. Why this Egyptian? Egyptian is brought to him.
Egyptian is fed. He's revived. David says to him in verse 13, watch this. To whom do you belong? And where are you from?
And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, a servant of. Emale. I'm a servant of an Amalekite. And my master left me behind when I fell sick three days ago. We made a raid on the Negev of the Sherathites and on that which belongs to Judah and on the Negev of Caleb and we burned Ziglag with fire.
Oh no, you didn't. You mean to tell me I'm obeying what God told me to obey. I run across a hungry man. Who is dying and who needs something to survive? And I pause on my journey to reclaim my stuff to minister to somebody else and to serve them.
And as luck would have it. The Egyptian that they feed is part of the terrorist group. That invaded the Nagev at Ziglag. As chance would have it. See, God knows how to hook a brother up.
How to hook a sister up. If they will keep moving in the way he wants them to move, and something that looks like it had no relationship to the problem is the answer to the problem. Because guess what? David said to him. Will you bring me down to this band?
Do you know where they are? And will you take us there? He said, Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this band.
Well, who would have thought this man with no food was the answer to the prayer to take me to get my stuff back. See, that's why you gotta move with God and not predict God and not put God in a box, because he'll use some of the most unlikely folk. to be the answer to your prayer and to turn your situation around.
So, a man who was the problem was saved by David is going to lead them to the problem so he can get his stuff back. What I'm trying to tell you is, God knows where your stuff is. He knows where the enemy is taking it, and he knows what the enemy is trying to do with it.
So David recovered. All that the Amalekites had taken. That's how good God is. He can not only preserve your stuff, get you your stuff back, but get you stuff beyond the stuff you were looking for. I believe Ephesians 3.20 says, now unto him who can do exceedingly abundantly above all you can ask or think according to the power that works in you.
So God is able to get back what the enemy has stolen. He is your insurance policy. And the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 2.14, he causes us to triumph. He says in Romans 8, verse 37, that we are more than conquerors. The Bible says in Colossians 2, 15, the devil has already been...
been defeated.
So he has no right to your stuff, but we let him keep it because we don't go after it God's way.
So you go back and you get your joy. You go back and you get your peace. You go back and you get your family. You go back and you get your victory. You go back and you get your career.
You go back and you get your stability. You go back and you get your life. Cause the devil has no right to it. It's illegitimate. But you must go back as a steward and not as an owner.
You must go back as a manager and not like it belongs to you. Because the moment you own it, you're no longer a steward and you've invited the devil into it. Dr. Evans will return in a moment to wrap up our program with a fairy tale story that has a true life application. Stay with us.
I want to invite you to join me for the trip of a lifetime. Tony Evans invites you to journey with him through Israel this October. We're going to gather together with many of our friends to survey the sites of the Holy Land. You'll visit the site of the Sermon on the Mount, tour the Old City, including the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, and the Garden of Gethsemane. You'll overlook Nazareth, stand on the Mount of Olives, and walk the road where Jesus made his triumphal entry.
Along the way, Tony will share messages that'll give you new insight into familiar Bible stories. Not only will we have a great time in his word together, we'll have a great time being together with so many who love the Lord and who love his word. There's a lot more in the itinerary. Visit tonyevans.org today to get the details and register before space runs out. Don't miss this chance to add a whole new dimension to your faith.
Visit tonyevans.org today. Looking forward to meeting you for a glorious time on our journey to Israel. You were created to make a difference. to lead a life of lasting impact and legacy. Discovering and following the principles of kingdom stewardship, Will help you become the person God designed you to be, a fully capable and confident believer whose life reflects God's glory.
Today is the final day we'll be offering Dr. Evans' powerful book on kingdom stewardship. bundled along with an in-depth study guide, the Companion Leaders Kit, and downloadable video sessions, as well as the comprehensive twelve message audio series Tony will be concluding in just a moment. It's a complete package created to help you dig deep into the powerful principles of kingdom stewardship. And it's all yours with our thanks for your contribution to help make this program possible.
Call our Resource Center today at 1-800-800-3222 to make the arrangements. or visit us online at tonyevans. org. Again, that's 1-800-800-3222. or online at tonyevans.org.
Dr. Evans believes that one of the best ways to satisfy your spiritual appetite. is to sometimes say no to your physical one. Tomorrow he begins a collection of messages that take a look at the subject of fasting through the lens of Scripture. Right now, though, he's back with this final illustration.
In one of the versions of Jack and the Beanstalk. Jack and his mother. in this English fairy tale. are in a cottage outside of London. And they are poor and running out of food.
The little garden is not producing anything more. and the cow's milk has become weak. The mother says, Jack. The only way we're going to survive for at least a little while longer is you got to sell our cow. Sell our cow mountain.
Yeah, you got to sell the cow and get as much food as you can get.
So take him to the butcher, sell him so that we can get some more food. Jack takes the cow. And he begins to walk to the butcher, but on his way, he runs into an elderly man. The elderly man says, young man, where are you going? Says, I'm going to sell the cow to the butcher.
He says, I'll buy that cow. What will you pay for the cow?
Well, I've got... Three beans here. But these are magic beans. I can't do anything with magic beans. Yeah, yeah.
No, no, trust me. You want these beans. In fact, if these beans don't do good by you, I will give you back your cow. Jack exchanges the cow for the three beans. Jack comes home to his mama and said, Mama, I got three beans.
For the cow. Mama is ticked off. You got rid of our cow for some three beans? Because these are magic beans. Boy, magic nothing.
You've been ripped off. The boy goes to bed at night and frustrated. throws the three beans out the window. The next morning, Jack wakes up. And outside of his little cottage is a beanstalk.
And the bean stalk is humongous, and it goes all the way through the clouds up into the heavens. He's never seen anything like this. The magic beans that produce the bean stalk. That's blown his mind. Jack begins to climb.
Up the beanstalk. He goes through the clouds, and when he gets through the clouds, he looks over and he sees a castle. When he sees his castle, a fairy godmother shows up. And says, Jack, Let me tell you something about that castle. That castle used to belong to your father.
Your father was a knight. But the giant came and killed your father, and he took your castle and everything that was in it. Jack says, so you mean to tell me that's my castle? That's your castle, but the giant took it from your father. Jack went inside the castle, and to make a long story short, he hid in the closet.
And when he peeked out the closet, he saw a basket with golden eggs. Jack said Those are my eggs. He saw the giant come out and tell the hen. Give me another egg. That hidden Pumped out another egg.
Jack said to himself, that's my hen. The giant came out with a golden harp. Began to play it for a little while. Melodious sound. Jack said to himself.
That's my heart. Because it belonged to my father, and I'm my father's son. That's my heart. So Jack was sitting there and just kind of biting his time, and then the giant went to sleep. When the giant went to sleep, Jax, look out!
Picked up the basket. Grab the hen, then grab the heart. Made his way. to the bean stall. But on his way to the beanstalk, The hen made a sound.
And woke the giant up. The giant said Fee five, four, four. I smell the blood of an Englishman. Be he live or be he dead. I will grind him with my teeth for him to be my own bread.
And he makes his way and he sees Jack off in the distance. And the giant begins to run because he wants to grab Jack, eat him up, destroy him, because Jack has reclaimed. What belonged to his father? Jack is making his way down the beanstalk. The giant is chasing him.
Coming down to beanstalk. Jack gets to the bottom of the beanstalk and takes an axe. Chops the bottom of the beanstalk, and the beanstalk falls over. The giant breaks his neck. And the giant is killed because Jack.
Reclaim.
Something that belonged to him. That was bequeathed by his father. What I'm here to tell you is that there is another tree. That connects heaven and earth. There is another tree that connects glory and history.
There is another tree. Because Jesus says in John 15, 1, I am the true vine. I am the one that you climb on. I am the one that you look to. And if you will embrace me.
If you will come to me. I know where the giant lives. I know what the giant has that belongs to you. And if you'll take the faith risk to go and get it back, I will take you and I will bring you to safety. When you get to the bottom and you've let the devil know he can't take from you anymore.
Then you'll be able to say. See five. Follow Farm. I have the blood of God's only begotten Son. Be he alive or be he dead.
I've got the one who's my eternal bread. When you connect with Jesus Christ, He knows where your stuff is.
So you go get it. You say, devil, you can't have my joy. You can't have my peace, my purpose, my family, my resources, my health. You can't have it because I belong to somebody else.
So why don't you get up and praise him? that you can get your stuff back.
