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There Is An Appointed Time

The Urban Alternative / Tony Evans, PhD
The Truth Network Radio
June 19, 2024 6:00 am

There Is An Appointed Time

The Urban Alternative / Tony Evans, PhD

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June 19, 2024 6:00 am

It’s part of human nature to seek out a life of meaning and purpose. But seeking it doesn’t guarantee finding it… leading to the frustration and hopelessness so many people often feel. In this message, Dr. Tony Evans will share the secret of making the most out of life while there’s still time.

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God gives you permission to have fun. But Dr. Tony Evans says enjoying that fun requires a balance of healthy values and habits. God has given you a gift of time and a gift of life, and He wants you to max it out legitimately. 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. It's part of human nature to seek out a life of meaning and purpose, but seeking it doesn't guarantee finding it, leading to the frustration and hopelessness so many people often feel. Today, Dr. Evans shares the secret of making the most out of life while there's still time.

Let's join him. The book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 1, verse 2. Vanity of vanity, saith the preacher.

Everything is vanity. Emptiness without purpose, meaninglessness. He's dealing with life under the sun. That is, life on earth, where men live, work, play, raise families, marry, bury. He's dealing with real life. If you're looking for the meaning of life, in life, you'll miss life. The way life works under the sun, that is, on earth, is that it is full of ups and downs, ins and out, good and bad. We know that by our own experience.

We just don't know it like he knew it, because he could afford to find out how bad it could be. Have you ever felt like this? Every morning, you get up out of that same old bed. You go to that same old bathroom and look in that same old mirror at that same old face.

Go to that same old closet to choose from, those same old clothes. You go to, you go to the refrigerator, your refrigerator, look at those same old options for breakfast. You go in that same old garage, you get in that same old car to drive that same old highway to that same old job, working with those same old people for that same old pay. You get off of work, you get back in that same old car, you drive back down that same old road to that same old house to hear that same old noise for those same old kids. You pick up that same old remote because you're sitting in that same old chair to watch those same old shows, to go into the kitchen to get the same old dinner cooked by that same old person. Then you go to bed the same old way, and it becomes a routine. That's why we're so anxious to break the routine when life becomes predictable. When he opens up chapter three, that is the mood he's in. There is an appointed time for everything, and there is a time for every event under heaven, because he's under the sun.

Come on on earth. To give birth, to die, plant, uproot, kill, heal, tear down, build up, weep, laugh, mourn, dance, throw stones, gather thrones, embrace, shun embracing, to search and to give up as lost, to keep, to throw away, to tear apart, to sew together, to be silent, to speak up, to love, to hate, to war, to peace. I know people often use this when things happen to say, well there's a time for everything. But that's not quite what he's saying. He's not saying it in that spirit that there's a time for everything. He's saying we're trapped.

That's what he's saying. We're trapped. We're trapped between competing realities. It's almost fatalism. It's almost—he's saying, I'm tired of the routine. I'm tired of the circle where life is like this, and it's so, so routine. I gotta just take it as it comes, because one day it's gonna be up, next day it's gonna be down. I'm gonna be healthy, and I'm gonna be sick.

I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna go to bed. I mean, it's just the routine. When you get that routine long enough and deep enough, things become boring. So he's wrestling. He's pondering, and he's—the Holy Spirit allows his pondering to be recorded in Scripture so that you and I could understand that if you're looking for the meaning of life in life, you miss life. He's not saying the things you do have no meaning for the thing. He's saying it doesn't answer the question about life.

And then he says something that's a little curious in verse 10. I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves. Why, God?

Why? Why have you placed me and locked me into this cage called life with its good days and bad days, ups and downs, yeses and nos, to this closed universe? Verse 11, he has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their hearts, yet so that men will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. Now, what he is saying there is that God has intentionally created time in such a way that it cannot bring ultimate fulfillment, and so what he has done is set eternity in their hearts, in our hearts. That is, he's created a vacuum that all men have, which is why all men everywhere on the planet demand religion. No matter where you go on the planet, men demand religion because they need something outside of this thing. They need something transcendent, and if they don't have a religion, they will make one because they need to break this cycle, and he says he sets eternity in their hearts.

That is, a desire to break out of time. Eternity means no time. I know, verse 12, that there is nothing better for them, for men, than to rejoice and do good in one's lifetime. Moreover, that every man who eats and drinks, sees good in his labor, it is the gift of God.

Interesting. We want eternity because we want to break out of the routine of time, but in time, God says, you cannot get ultimate meaning in time, but you can get enjoyment in time. So he distinguishes between the issue of meaning and enjoyment. There are things we enjoy. There are foods we enjoy. There's entertainment we enjoy.

There's friends we enjoy. God gives you permission to have fun. God gives you permission to have fun. Because you and I have been locked into this hamster cage called life and time, since you're here, you might as well enjoy it, because this is where you are. So any legitimate opportunity you have to have fun, take advantage of it, because there's another time coming around the corner.

There's another time when it won't be fun or funny. And so, the moment those things in life, those legitimate things in life—and we'll go into legitimate as we go along—but those things that are enjoyable to you. In fact, he even deals with your job, your career, your labor.

He says, the one who eats and drinks and sees good in all of his labor, it is the gift of God. Don't spend all of your life, if you can help it, doing stuff you hate. Don't spend a lifetime—some things we have to do because we have to do it—but but don't spend a lifetime hating what you do when it is absorbing so much of this limited thing called time.

You want to find something that you enjoy or at least find some things that you enjoy that take you away from the things you don't enjoy that you have to do anyway. And it's okay, he says, because it's a gift from God. Dr. Evans will return in a moment with more about getting the most out of life before our appointed time is up. But first, the message you've been hearing today comes from Tony's brand-new teaching series, How to Avoid a Wasted Life. It's an honest and profound look at what the Bible has to say about the complexities of life, pleasure, meaning, and more. Through these lessons you'll discover reasons to embrace a humble relationship with God and find ways to enjoy His presence and promise as you live a life that rises above cultural and worldly uncertainties. There's a lot packed into this powerful series, and all nine messages are yours as our gift when you make a contribution to help support our work here at The Alternative. And for a limited time, along with the audio messages, we'll also send you the 365-day Kindness Flip Calendar, filled with inspiring quotes, scriptures, and insights from Dr. Evans that will help encourage you to enjoy a life marked by the goodness of God. To take advantage of this special offer, visit tonyevans.org, where you'll find this deal featured right now on the home page. Or give us a call at 1-800-800-3222, and let a friendly member of our resource team help you out.

I'll repeat that contact information after the second part of today's lesson, and this. The threat of global catastrophe looms over us. Earthquakes.

Fires. It seems like the world is falling into turmoil. Are you ready to face Armageddon? Dr. Tony Evans' latest book, Thy Kingdom Come, emerges as a light amidst the sin-ridden depths of our world, guiding you through the murky waters of uncertainty. Within these insightful pages, wisdom intertwines with revelation. You'll dive deep into the mysteries of enigmatic prophecy, where solace awaits the weary soul. Dr. Tony Evans' unparalleled mastery and deciphering the complexities of Scripture will ensure clarity in the face of confusion and illuminate the path towards hope. Arm yourself against the impending storm, and let not the hour of reckoning catch you unaware. Be prepared for what's to come by picking up your copy of Thy Kingdom Come at tonyevans.org. Comes with a bonus sermon series staying right with God.

Do not be caught off guard. We're stuck in the hamster cage with this same old, same old routine that we can't break out of, but we long to break out of, because He's put eternity in our hearts. So we want to get out of it, but we can't break out of it. He says, okay, well, while you are here, because you are stuck in time, find some stuff to enjoy.

Okay? God has given you a gift of time and a gift of life, and He wants you to max it out legitimately. I know, verse 14, that everything God does will remain forever. There is nothing to add to it. There's nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him.

Okay? So God has intentionally created a dissatisfaction in life to drive you and me to Him. If you're looking for meaning in life, you're gonna waste your life trying to find it. I said to myself, verse 18, concerning the sons of men, God has surely tested them in order for them to see that they are but beasts. In other words, when you see the raw nature of men, and the more you teach evolution, the more folk will act beastly.

Who knows the breath of a man that sends upward and the breath of a beast that sends downward to the earth? I have seen that nothing is better than that a man should be happy in his activities, for that is his lot. For who will bring him to see what will occur after him? So you have permission. The New Testament even gives you permission. In 1 Timothy, chapter 6, you have permission to max life out.

Okay? But what it's gonna tell you is to do so responsibly. Not irresponsibly, but responsibly. He goes back to this evil that he sees in chapter 4, all around him. Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun where men live. Behold, I saw the tears of the oppressed, and that they had no one to comfort them, and on the sight of their oppressors was power. But they had no one to comfort them. So I congratulated the dead, who already dead more than the living who are still living. I know some folks have told me they just stopped watching the news, because they can't handle it.

It's just pain everywhere. I have seen that every labor and every skill, verse 4, which is done, is a result of rivalry between a man and his neighbor. This too is vanity and striving after the wind. It's a dog-eat-dog world. I see people competing against each other to the harm of one another. And so much that is done isn't for the good in doing it.

It is for the competition in doing it without the care with it. He says, I see that. I observe that. And he's in pain. He's in anguish. Just as you and I, when we see things that we know are crooked or evil or hurtful to other people, he's feeling life under the sun, and he's rawly telling you what it is and how it looks and how it feels. Now the fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh.

Okay, you're talking about the lazy dude now. He's folding his hands. He ain't doing nothing. Oh, you're doing something. He's waiting for a handout. Okay. In other words, he's not being productive at all.

So you got the business people competing even to the destruction of one another, dog-eat-dog world. You got the fool. He's doing nothing. One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after the wind. Let me let me talk about that. Let me talk about this now. Listen. One hand and being at rest is better than two hands full of labor and striving after the wind. Now watch this. The fool rests both hands. Okay, right? The fool has his hands plural. He has his hands. He's doing nothing.

Okay. He's just lazy, and let me just say a word about this politically. When you hear discussions about helping the poor, you have to clarify the question. You have to ask, why are they poor? From a biblical word, the issue isn't, are you poor? It's why are you poor? Now if you're poor because of injustice, you got to address that. But if you're poor because you lazy, you're supposed to be poor. Okay?

You're supposed to be poor. You know, Bible says if a man doesn't work, he ought not eat. So you don't—what you don't do is support irresponsibility.

Okay? So I just want to underscore that because he just called that person a fool. If you're sitting on both of your hands, you're doing nothing. But now he condemns the other hand, and that's working with two hands. Because he says, a fist full of labor, two fists full of labor, striving after the wind. In other words, you are a workaholic, okay, because you got you got both fists going there. You're a workaholic with an empty life.

Striving after the wind. That's emptiness. Empty life. But you're getting up early, you're staying up late, and you're empty. He says the better approach—because he's trying to tell you how to live life under the sun—he says, given the hamster cage you're in, we're in, it is better for you and me to work hard with one hand and rest. Then two fists—tight fists, see, not just a hand and fist, you're tight—to work with one hand and have rest, then two hands and have emptiness. It is better to do less and have less and be at peace than to kill yourself and be miserable.

Some people know what it is to be in a smaller house and be happy than a bigger house and not not wanting to go into the same spot with that individual. Now he's not condemning wealth. He's not condemning hard work.

The Bible encourages hard work, but not expecting that work to give you life. And so we often make these promises to ourselves, if I could get here, if I could get there, if I could get here. Okay, the question is, why? Is it just to have more? Don't lose your life over your work. Now I'm talking to me now because I'm a workaholic. You know, I get up early, I stay up late, I love what I do, and so I enjoy it, so I'm motivated by joy. But it's easy to make it a goal in itself and to need to sit back and say, okay, okay, now why? Why this program? Why this new thing? To make sure, because it's easy to get caught up, even in ministry, and the Joneses will kill you.

You remember that Temptation Song? Don't let the Joneses get you down. Okay? Keep it up with the Joneses.

Okay? Your name ain't Jones. There was a certain man, verse 8, without a dependent, having neither a son nor a brother, yet there was no end to all of his labor. Indeed, his eyes were not satisfied with riches, and he never asked, and for whom am I laboring and depriving myself of pleasure? This too is vanity. So this man has no family.

He's working like a dog. He's already got money, but he's trying to get more money. Anything for who?

For what? You don't have no relatives. You know what I mean? You got plenty to live on for yourself, and you're gonna die with all this money, never having enjoyed life. Luke 12 talks about a man like this who is building barns, and he had a bumper crop, and he says, what I'm gonna do now is I'm gonna build me bigger barns, then I'm gonna retire, and then I'm gonna enjoy my stuff.

And then God showed up and said, you fool, tonight your soul is required of you. Don't wait to live the life God has given you till some future day, because that day may never come. Life under the sun, where men live.

I'm talking about eternity. I'm talking about life now. You may not be what you want to be.

You may not have what you want to have, but you make sure you're maximizing all that life can give you legitimately to enjoy while you still are as productive as you can be, so that you live life and don't merely exist in life. Dr. Tony Evans, talking about how to find meaning in life and enjoy it to the fullest. Now, before we go, I want to tell you that if you'd like to review today's lesson on your own or pass it along to someone you care about, just get in touch with us for details on the message titled, There is an Appointed Time.

You'll get the full-length version that includes content we didn't have time to bring you on the air today. Better yet, get it as a part of Tony's brand new audio series, How to Avoid a Wasted Life. As I mentioned earlier, it's available right now as our gift to you in appreciation for your donation toward Tony's ministry, along with a special bonus, their perpetual 365-day kindness flip calendar. Visit tonyevans.org today to get all the details before time runs out. Again, that's tonyevans.org or call us at 1-800-800-3222. Our resource center is open 24-7.

That's 1-800-800-3222. You know, life can present us with some pretty difficult realities, especially if we have some disadvantages to begin with. Tomorrow Dr. Evans will talk about the biblical principles that can help turn our situation around and empower us to offer hope to others. I hope you'll join us. The alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative and it's made possible by the generous contributions of listeners like you.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-07-11 23:51:05 / 2024-07-11 23:59:19 / 8

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