Men Covered by God

If you're going to be a leader, that means you've got to be going somewhere.

And it's in everybody's best interest if you know where you're going. Dr. Tony Evans says a man's spiritual covering connects him with God's guidance and power. If we could get men to pursue a relationship with God, we would find things changing in our circumstances.

This is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans. Author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of the Urban Alternative. Dr. Evans says one reason men don't use the spiritual authority God gave them is that they don't understand the covering over them. Let's join him in the book of Exodus as he explains.

God called for three conferences a year. All the males in Israel are to come before the Lord their children. Now, why did God call this meeting?

Let me show you something in chapter 34. He says in verse 10, then God said, Behold, I'm going to make a covenant. Verse 14, For you shall not worship any other God, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Otherwise, you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land. Verse 27, Then the Lord said to Moses, Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.

Then at the end of verse 28, and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant. God called all the men to covenant with them because they were to cover not only their own lives and their own family, but in this context, the whole nation. So the positioning of a man underneath God's covenantal covering would determine the well-being of the whole nation. A man's self-definition is intrinsically tied to his spiritual subordination. Let me say that again. A man's self-definition is intrinsically tied to his spiritual subordination.

So if there is no spiritual subordination to the rule of God over a man's life, his definition of his manhood is flawed. Now this is risky business. When you call all the men out at one time to the conference, that means there's no military. That means commerce has taken a major dive.

That means there's nobody there protecting the homes. That's risky business. God has the audacity to say, take a bet on me. You take a bet on me.

You want a bet, man, bet on me. Because even though I'm calling all the men away from the nation to meet with the Lord their God at the very same time, it's going to be all right. So all the men have come to the conference now. They all come to the conference, and they're sitting there and God is on the stage. What is he telling them?

Let me show you something. Psalm chapter 25 verses 12 to 14. Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should go. His soul will abide in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land.

Watch this. The secret of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he will make them know his covenant. He says, if I could get the men to come underneath me, come underneath my authority as God, then what I'm going to do with those men is I'm going to tell them some secrets. I'm going to tell them some secrets. A secret is not for everybody. When you tell a secret, it's only for the people you want to hear it. Only men under the covenant get secrets. Men who are not under the covenant don't get secrets. They don't get a private conversation about what God wants them to do next in their life, with their problem, with their career, with their money, with their circumstance.

They don't get secrets. So men not under the covenant live their lives in trial and error. Let me try this. Let me try that. Let me try this.

Let me try that. When Jesus Christ walked on the earth, he never had trial and error. He knew exactly where he was supposed to go, what he was supposed to do, because him and God had secrets. In football, you have a rule book. All 32 NFL teams have the same rule book, because the rules govern the game no matter where the game is being played. All the rules apply to all the games and all the players on all the teams in every stadium every Sunday, because it's the NFL rule book. As you sit here this morning, I'm giving you the rule book.

I'm taking the Bible. I'm seeking to explain it. Everybody's hearing the same rules and the same guidelines, because you're hearing the rule book. But every NFL team has their own playbook. The playbook is not available to all the other teams.

It's only available to that team. This team doesn't give that team their playbook, because their playbook are the plays uniquely related to their team. All teams have the rule book, but each team has its private playbook. If you look at a football game, you'll see the head coach or the offensive coordinator calling in plays but putting a covering over his mouth. It's a sheet or it's a board, something so that the media won't show what he's saying about the play he wants the team to run next. He's saying it in secret. It's only for his team to know.

It's only for his quarterback to know. It ain't for everybody. It is not for the other team. It's not for the stadium. It's just for his team.

It's a secret. So you can come to church and get the rule book, but God says for every man, I got a playbook. I want to give you some private instructions with your name on it, and this play is just for you. It's not for every man.

It's for you. But that playbook is only given to men who are in the covenant, who are under the covering, who are operating. The way God did it was he gave the play to Adam. Adam gave the play to Eve. We got Adam looking to Eve for the play. And the reason we got all these Adam looking to Eve for the play is that men aren't close enough to God to hear the secrets for themselves. That's why Exodus 33 is so critical. That's the chapter before the one we read.

Look at this. Look at some key verses in Exodus chapter 33, verse 7. Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. Verse 9, whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillow of the cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. Verse 11, thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.

When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. Then Moses said to the Lord, see, you say to me, bring up this people, but you yourself have not let me know whom you will send with me. I need some more information, God. Moreover, you have said, I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight. Now therefore, Lord, I pray you, if I have found favor in your sight, let me know your ways, that I might know you, so that I might find favor in your sight.

Consider, too, the people you've given me. Verse 17, the Lord said to Moses, I will also do this thing of which you have spoken, for you have found favor in my sight, and I have known you by name. Then Moses said, I pray you, show me your glory. And God said, I myself will make my goodness pass before you and proclaim the name of the Lord before you. You see what he did?

He didn't wait for the conference. Says Moses built his own tent. He met with God regularly face to face, because he knew the closer he was to God, the more information he'd get from God. And the more information he got from God, the better he would be able to fulfill his responsibilities in life. Too many men have failed to come under the covenant, bringing chaos to marriage, chaos to parenting, chaos to the culture, chaos to society.

And I don't mean by that women don't have a responsibility, but I do mean men are to be setting the pace. You are to be hearing from God, but you can't do that coming to church. You got to have your own tent.

You got to have your own meeting place. You've got to have your own regular interface with the living God to pitch a tent. The passage goes on to say that a lot of folks, when Moses went to the tent, would stand at their tent. In other words, they didn't go to the tent. They just stood and watched what Moses was doing.

Don't come here and watch my tent. Get your own tent so that you can hear God for yourself, speaking to your mind, speaking to your thoughts, speaking to your circumstances. He says, and God met with Moses face to face. God has given you the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's job is to take the rule book and give you your personal playbook. He won't contradict the rule book, but he will personalize the playbook because guess what? Your play is not the same play as somebody else. You need your own experience with God.

And that comes through pursuing a relationship. Dr. Evans will give us a peek into one biblical character's playbook when he continues our message in just a moment. First though, as we've been learning, Dr. Evans says American men have been lied to and misled. It's time for the truth, and you'll find it in his powerful book Kingdom Men Rising. In it, Tony squares off against today's mangled view of manhood and presents a whole new game plan for overcoming temptation, recovering from past failures, leading your family, and building a legacy of faith and godly influence.

It's time to man up God's way. So we'd like to send you a copy of Kingdom Men Rising as our way of saying thanks when you make a contribution toward the ministry of the Urban Alternative. As a special bonus, we'll send it to you along with all 12 full-length messages in Tony's hard-hitting audio series, part of which we've been listening to today. Get both of these Kingdom Men Rising resources before this special offer runs out by visiting tonyevans.org. Or let one of our friendly team members help you with your request when you call our 24-hour Resource Center at 1-800-800-3222.

That's 1-800-800-3222. I'll repeat our contact information after part two of today's lesson and this. Far too many of us want to throw in the towel before we've thrown up the prayers. Dr. Tony Evans says Christians have a habit of underusing or overlooking our most valuable spiritual resource. Grace is available but only at the throne, and you can only approach the throne through prayer. You can deepen your connection with the Lord through our in-depth course on Kingdom Prayer at the Tony Evans Training Center. You'll discover how God has wired the world to work by prayer and experience for yourself how it connects heaven with earth and time with eternity.

You'll not only gain a new understanding and appreciation for prayer, you'll actually pray in transforming ways you've never experienced before. The course is intense, but you can work through it at your own pace and get all the help you need through our online forum. And, of course, there's custom content from Tony not available anywhere else. Connect with the Tony Evans Training Center at tonyevans.org. It's like having a seminary on your smartphone or other device. Start today, tonyevans.org. Problem 103 verse 7 says, God showed Moses his ways and he showed Israel his acts.

That's a big difference. Israel got to see what God did. Moses got to see where God was going. See, if you're going to be a leader, that means you got to be going somewhere.

And it's in everybody's best interest if you know where you're going. So he says God showed Moses where he was going and he got to know Moses by name. If we could get men, pulpit the pew and back again, to pursue a relationship with God, we would find things changing in our circumstances. And because men will not pitch a tent for their ongoing relationship with God between the three conferences a year, we never hear from God.

We just hear sermons from man. And we don't get a playbook. We just quote a rule book. In football, everything is related to where the football is. The first down is measured by the change to where the football is. The touchdown is whether the football crossed the plane of the goal. The field goal is whether the football went between the uprights and the complete pass is whether you held onto the ball. Everything is related to this little package and your proximity to it.

Because if the package is here and you step here, you're offside because you're not in proper alignment with the football. This whole $14 billion industry is all related to this. It's all related to your proximity to this. God's covenant is the key to the game of life. And your proximity to that determines how the game of life works or does not work in the life of a man, in the life of any Christian, but particularly the life of a man, because he's calling all the men. Now, if you become this kind of man, if I become this kind of man, if we become this kind of man, what can we expect? Verse 24 tells you of chapter 34, I will drive out the nations before you. I will enlarge your borders.

No man shall covet your land when you go out three times a year to appear before the Lord your God. No, you didn't. Okay, the guys who've been around here for a while know I got this little thing I do. When I'm asked to do something and there's a lot of confusion and what should we do and all that, I hold up three fingers. Three fingers, I hold up three fingers. Three fingers, I got it.

That's what that means. I got it. So when I need to take care of something at church, at home, sometime I don't say anything, I just hold up three fingers.

I mean, you don't have to worry about it. I got it. Now, a lot of times I don't got it, but I don't tell people I don't got it. I hold up three fingers, then I go get it. But my three fingers, three fingers, I'm telling them, y'all, settle down. It's going to be okay. Don't worry about it.

Not your responsibility. I don't say all that. I just hold up three fingers.

I mean, you chill. I got it. You know what God is saying here? If I can get you on the covenant, hear my three fingers. I got it. Father, Son, Holy Ghost, I got it.

I got it. I will keep the nations from destroying you. I will enlarge your borders. In fact, I got it so much, I will change the way people are even thinking because they will not even covet what I've given you. I will affect their whole mentality. I'll change the way things are changing. You want to see God invade your life, invade your world, invade your circumstance, and have him hold up three fingers, and you all shook up and toe up from the floor up, and he's saying, if I can get you under the covenant, I got it. I own it. When men are operating under divine authority, in relationship, in their tent of meeting, and in their collective gathering of men, then they will be able to see what it looks like when God has it, when God is answering prayer, when God is intervening in circumstances, when God is changing people who didn't look like they could ever change.

But it's all about the proximity to the covenant. So it is time now that there would be no more excuses, that we do not give excuses as men why we don't have it. You say, but I'm busy. I don't have time. I work. I do this. I do that.

I do that. That's an excuse. How can you be too busy to meet with somebody who gonna take over your situation? Every football game only has 17 minutes. That 17 minutes is part of a one-hour game, but you got to sit three hours. If you go to the game, that's two more hours, because you got to drive to it. You got to park.

You got to walk a long way. So that's five hours so that you can watch one hour in order to see 17 minutes. But now you got to go home. That's two more hours, because you got to walk from the stadium to the car. You got to work through all the traffic.

So now that's seven hours. Then you're going to go to work tomorrow and at the water cooler, you're going to discuss what happened all day yesterday. Then you're going to start looking at who the team is going to play next week. But help me out somebody.

What have the Cowboys done for you lately? But I know somebody who says, I will cover you. I will oversee you. I will manage you.

I will direct you if I can get your undivided attention in relationship underneath my rule. So God is calling all men to take your stand underneath his authority so that a man can see what a man ought to be, because he's the man that God built. Dr. Tony Evans will have a final challenge and some advice about carrying it out when he comes back in a moment to wrap up this lesson he calls Men Covered by God. First though, a quick reminder about that special offer I mentioned earlier. If you help us continue this broadcast by making a donation to the ministry, we'll say thanks by sending you all 12 messages in Tony's current series, Kingdom Men Rising, along with his powerful book by the same name.

This is a limited time offer, so don't put it off. Drop by our website at tonyevans.org, where you can get all the details and make the arrangements. Or give us a call at 1-800-800-3222, where resource team members are available 24-7.

Again, that's 1-800-800-3222. There's a saying that kindness is a gift that everyone can afford to give. Well, as we've mentioned before, Dr. Evans believes kindness is a gift that our society can't afford not to give. Take the time to show kindness to those you meet today, and in the name of Jesus, look for opportunities to demonstrate kindness to someone who needs a touch from God. You'll help make your community a better place when you demonstrate the love of God through your acts of kindness. Coming up tomorrow, when your car is out of alignment, your wheels are actually pointing in slightly different directions, and eventually your tires will either wear out or go flat. Well, Dr. Evans will talk about why so many marriages have the same problem and what men should be doing about it.

Right now, though, he's back to wrap up today's message. A Kingdom Man is a male who visibly and consistently submits to the comprehensive relationship and rule of God underneath the lordship of Jesus Christ in every area of life. That must be the mindset. To get you started, you must intentionally set aside time to meet with God daily, in His Word and through prayer, for the purpose of cultivating spiritual intimacy in order to draw down heavenly authority and receive divine instruction. The goal is to seek more of God, not merely seeking things from God. Secondly, pray daily with your mate and share with her what you are learning from church or in your personal time with God. So now you're taking spiritual leadership.

Thirdly, regularly use mealtime for praying with and over your family, having devotions and discussing what your children had learned at Sunday school or at children's church, removing all distractions at this time, removing the iPad and the computer and the television and the phones, because this is, Daddy is here now, to begin to set the atmosphere. And you may be saying, but I don't think my family's gonna go for that. Well, God's not requesting this. This is not a matter, no. If you have to sit there by yourself long enough for them to see you serious, that you ain't playing, but it is where you take your stand, is we're gonna challenge the men to take steps, measurable, verifiable steps to get your own playbook and not just come here for the rule book, so that God will raise up a generation of men who change the environment of the world in which we live. The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative and is made possible by the generous contributions of listeners like you.