You know you're in a crisis when life is overwhelming you. Dr. Tony Evans says the Lord sometimes allows us to hit bottom, so the only place we can look is up. The good news is God allows, creates, and uses crises so that He can demonstrate He alone is God. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. We often try to blame Satan when we find ourselves facing tough times, but today Dr. Evans talks about another explanation and why a crisis may be the best thing that ever happened to us.
Let's join him. Revival is when the reality of God becomes real to the experience of His people, when God in a sense re-enters into your situation of life. When there was the return of God, it was often in the midst of a crisis, a situation that men could not fix, such as the situation that we find in 2nd Chronicles chapter 20 with King Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat and God's people were being surrounded by the enemy.
They were being surrounded by those who were against them. You know you're in a crisis when you feel like Jehoshaphat felt because verse 3 says Jehoshaphat was afraid. A crisis bursts fear. It bursts insecurity, trauma, and even terror because it looms so large in your life. There are financial crises. Crises can come in health forms when the doctors don't know quite how to fix the problem. There can be relational crisis and you're overwhelmed by the inability to fix whatever the nature of the relationship is. Here's when you really know you're in a crisis.
Verse 12, he says, O our God, will you not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us, nor do we know what to do. You're in a crisis when you don't know what to do. When you sense or feel a sense of powerlessness to change things. You know as long as you feel like you've got the power to turn around, the fear doesn't dominate. It's when you have this sense of powerlessness.
I don't have the wherewithal to fix it or to change it or to reverse it or to correct it and I don't even know anybody else who can help me. When your options have run out and that sense of powerlessness prevails, you're in a crisis. Jehoshaphat says, I'm in a crisis.
It's a big thing, a great multitude. It's now running my emotions. I'm afraid. I feel powerless to do anything.
I don't have the wherewithal to turn it around myself and even if I had the power, I couldn't use it because I don't know what to do. Jehoshaphat was afraid. Verse 3, he turned his attention to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all of Judah because it affected the whole southern kingdom.
There was the northern kingdom and then there was a southern kingdom, Judah. Jehoshaphat is king of the southern kingdom, Judah, and because it affected everybody who this affected because the nation was under attack, he called them to join him in seeking the Lord. The good news is that God allows, creates, and uses crises so that he can demonstrate he alone is God. See, it's one thing to know God in theory. He's my rock, my sword, my shield.
He's the wheel in the middle of a wheel. That sounds good and it'll get you an amen. But in a crisis, you don't need cutesy statements. In a crisis, you don't need spiritual serendipities. In a crisis, you don't just need high-sounding theological vernacular. In a crisis, you need to see the living God. In a crisis, you need to know the God you've been talking about is real and you need an experience with that God. Well, if you need an experience with that God, you need an experience that calls for that God. If you need an experience with that God, then you need an experience that calls for that God. So he sets his face to seek the Lord.
Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah, verse 5, and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court. So he's in God's house in a crisis. He says, Oh Lord, the God of our fathers, are you not God in the heavens and are you not ruler over the kingdoms of the nations?
Power and might are in your hands so that no one can stand against you. He introduces his prayer with one of the great truths that you need to remember, particularly if you are in a crisis or when you get in a crisis. He says, God, is it not true that, here it is, here it is, here it is, never forget this, God, is it not true, pay close attention. He says, God, is it not true that heaven rules?
If you forget everything I say today, I want you to remember this, heaven rules. In other words, earth never has the last word. Your crisis is not the final word. It looks like the final word because you're being overwhelmed. It feels like the final word because you're afraid. You think it may be the final word because you don't know what to do. So what he does in his prayer is retreat to what he knows to be true about God even though it goes against how he feels right now. How does he feel right now?
He's very much afraid. Never let your feelings sit in judgment over your faith. Let me say that again. Never let your feelings sit in judgment over your faith. You must always let your faith sit in judgment over your feelings. Don't deny how you feel. How you feel is how you feel. I'm afraid, I'm anxious, I'm insecure, I'm worried, I'm doubtful, because to say you're not afraid when you're afraid, well that's like lying. If you're trembling, you're trembling. That's the real, but the problem is not how you're feeling.
The problem is allowing how you feel as real as it is to override your faith. So what he says is what he knows to be true about God. He says, God is it not true that you rule from heaven? He goes on in verse 7. Did you not, O God, drive out the inhabitants of the land before your people Israel and give it to the descendants of Abraham, your friend forever? I love this.
I love this. He goes back. He says, now when I read my Bible, because the hospital is many years later, he said, when I read my Bible, I can find places where you dealt with whole nations of people before. When you wanted to bring Abraham into this new land, you dealt with the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Jebusites, and you dealt with whole nations to give us this land. That's why you need to know your Bible, because you need to know that you can refer back to other folk who are in the same situation that you are now facing to know that while your situation is different, your God is not. So he now remembers. He starts with the sovereignty of God.
Heaven rules. He remembers, God, you faced this problem before with your people, and you handled it. I'm not your test case. Listen, I don't care what crisis you are now going through, you're not the first one God has had to address. You're not his test case. You're not his trial.
He's not scratching his head saying, I haven't faced this one before. You're in a financial crisis, the widow of Zarephath could testify. I was down to my last meal, and he made a way out of no way. If you don't know which way to go, Moses and Israel can testify between Pharaoh and the Red Sea that he can open up a road. Nobody could predict God was gonna do that. So the Bible is full of, particularly the Old Testament, testimony. But you say, wait, wait a minute, that was in the Old Testament. Yeah, but the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, those things were written for our example.
So that when you and I are living in the New Testament, we can refer back to the Old Testament when our New Testament problems look like Old Testament situations. He says, as I recall, Abraham had some nation problems, and you came through for him. When we built this sanctuary, in your name, we stamped your name on it, in your house, saying, should evil come upon us, the sword, judgment, pestilence, famine, distress, you will hear and deliver us.
Now watch this now. Now he throw God's Word up in God's face. He said, wasn't this our understanding that if all this crisis came on us, and he lists, he gives a whole list of crises, yours is in there somewhere. It's a whole list of crises. He says, we got pestilence, we got famine, we got this, we got that, but if we called on your name from this house, remember now, God's name is legal.
It is a trademark name. It's been a long time since we've called upon God as a nation. Cultural unrest and divisiveness are some of the consequences of not asking for God's solutions to our problems on a personal as well as a national level. Today's message, A Crisis That Cries for Revival, is the final installment in our 13-part sermon collection called, Turning a Nation to God. Through these lessons, Dr. Evans has been challenging us to look beyond the noise of social media and political rhetoric, and instead take into account the foundational issues and principles that represent the values of God's kingdom, and our responsibility as believers to be guided by those values. We'd like you to have a copy of all these audio messages on CD or downloadable mp3, along with a special bonus, a concise booklet that summarizes and distills these messages and their underlying principles into a practical resource called, How Should Christians Vote? If we hear from you today, we'll send you a copy of the booklet and all 13 messages in this sermon collection as our thank-you gift when you make a contribution to help continue this broadcast.
Without your assistance, this ministry wouldn't be possible, so we're thankful for this chance to support you as you support us. Get the details and make your request online at tonyevans.org. You can also call us anytime for help with your resource requests at 1-800-800-3222. And for an in-depth look into the important subject of faith, government, and personal responsibility, check out Dr. Evans' book and Bible study called Kingdom Politics. Find out more at tonyevans.org or by calling 1-800-800-3222.
I'll repeat that contact information for you after part two of today's lesson and this. In a world shrouded by fear, prophecy seeks to make sense of it all. Dr. Tony Evans' latest book, Thy Kingdom Come, reveals the secrets to deliver us through dark times. Now is the time to gain clarity in the midst of confusion. Be prepared for what's to come by picking up your copy of Thy Kingdom Come at tonyevans.org. It comes with a bonus sermon series, Staying Right with God.
Arm yourself against the impending storm. Well, let's return now to more of today's lesson from Dr. Evans. God's name is just not a word, God.
It is a legal relationship. So he goes to God's Word. He goes to God's person. He goes to God's history. Then he goes to God's Word.
After he goes back to the history, after he goes back to God's person, his ruler, after he goes back to God's Word, verse 10, now. Now we generally start with now. Yeah, God, hello, now. He doesn't get the now until he remembers who he talking to. See, because sometimes we forget who we talking to. See, you forget who you're talking to and then you reduce it to something else. Now, he says, now let me tell you about my problem. Aren't you the ruler of the heavens? What they got to do with me?
Didn't you do this before? Well, you said something in your Word. Now let me tell you about me and my mess-up situation. He says, the sons of Ammon and Moab and Sire, whom you did not let invade Israel, see how they are rewarding us by coming to drive us out from your possession, which you have given us as an inheritance. O our God, will you not judge them for we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us? Nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on you. My problem is I'm powerless. I don't know what to do. Watch this now.
I'm powerless. I don't know what to do, but I'm changing where I'm looking. Did you see that last line? My eyes are on you.
Now watch this. As long as the enemy can keep your eye on the enemy, you're gonna be looking at the wrong thing. He shifted his look. I am no longer gonna stare down my crisis. I'm not gonna ignore my crisis because I'm just saying now they're coming at us, but I'm not gonna stare them down. I'm gonna look to you. I'm gonna look to the hills from which cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord.
I am looking for you. Why does God call us to prayer? He calls us to draw down heaven for the benefit of my crisis on earth. Prayer is drawing down what has been offered in heaven in the midst of my crisis on earth. Now watch this. All Judah is standing before them.
Infants, wives, children, everybody, because it affects them all. Then in the midst of the assembly, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jehozel, the son of Zechariah, verse 15, and he said, listen all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat, thus saith the Lord to you, do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, this overwhelming crisis, for the battle is not yours but God's. For the battle is not yours but God's.
Oh, there's so much in here. Listen. Listen now. He prays because he's in a crisis. He says, I'm not gonna focus. I'm not gonna ignore my crisis because it's right here in front of me. It's invading me, but I'm not gonna let my crisis be my focus. I am now going to put my eyes on heaven, because watch this, heaven rules.
Since heaven rules, I'm gonna look at heaven that rules. I don't know how you're gonna do it. I don't know when you're gonna do it. I don't know where you're gonna do it.
All I know is you're the only one that can do it because I'm powerless in this situation. The text says, the Spirit of the Lord came on the prophet who then gave them, watch this, a direct word from God for their immediate situation. Please don't miss that. When he focused on God and made God his focus without ignoring his crisis, when he made his focus on God, appealing to God's nature, appealing to God's history, and then appealing to what God's Word said, it says the Spirit of the Lord came upon the prophet, and the prophet gave them a word about how God wanted them to resolve this problem. Why am I pointing this out? Because now we have the Word of God joining with the Spirit of God to bring an answer to the crisis being experienced by the people of God. God calls a prophet forth to speak a word. Now here's what I want to say to you.
I want to say this to you. When you are in a crisis and don't know what to do, God has a rhema word for you. Now let me define what I mean by rhema word.
The word rhema refers to a specific utterance. The Bible is the Word of God. It is the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation. It's the Word of God when you feel it. It's the Word of God when you don't feel it. It's the Word of God when you like it. It's the Word of God when you don't like it. It's the Word of God because it's the Word of God. But when you're in a crisis, you just don't need the Word of God in its general written sense.
You need a rhema word. That is, you need the specific Word of God that applies to you in your specific crisis, because you can't go to the Bible and the Bible tell you whether to move to Fort Worth or move to California. You can't go to the Bible and it tells you whether to do this specific thing or that.
It gives you general principles, but it doesn't give you all the specific guidance about your specific crisis. David says, the battle is not yours. The battle is the Lord's. Okay, in 1 Samuel, we have this phrase, because Israel was in a crisis. His name was Goliath. Goliath is a problem too big for you to handle.
By the way, whenever you have a problem that's too big for you to handle, call it Goliath, because then you know how things gonna wind up. In football, the quarterback receives the ball and so the other team is coming in to tackle him. And then he hands it off to the halfback. The halfback then takes the ball and he runs with it.
An amazing thing happens. Everybody that was after the quarterback changes. Everybody was after the quarterback, but now that they didn't hand this baby off, they now shift from the quarterback. And now they're all after the halfback, because the quarterback has handed the problem off. So now the problem is in somebody else's hands, and all the enemy got to deal with the somebody else, because he has the ball.
The reason why all of us are running all the time is we keep the ball. I got this problem. I got this problem. I can't do anything about this problem.
This is my problem. God is saying, hand the ball off. Hand the ball off.
Hand the ball off. We say no, I got the ball. I was born with this ball. I was raised with this ball.
I'm going to have this ball for the rest of my life. God is saying, hand the ball off, you dummy. And if we would hand the ball off and let God take it, the battle is not ours. It's the Lord's. Dr. Tony Evans with encouraging news on how God can use the crises in our lives when we acknowledge him as Lord. And if that's something you feel you need to do today, take a moment to visit our website and click the simple text link at the top of the home page that says Jesus. You'll find some refreshing information there that can help you begin a new life with God. The website is tonyevans.org.
And that's the same place to go to take advantage of that special offer I mentioned earlier. You can get all 13 messages in Tony's two-volume sermon collection, Turning a Nation to God, along with a bonus copy of the practical booklet, How Should Christians Vote? This exclusive resource bundle is yours with our thanks when you make a donation to help support the ministry of the alternative broadcast. And be sure to check out how you can also receive the powerful Kingdom Politics book and Bible study. Just visit us today at tonyevans.org to make your request or call us at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our resource team members help you. That's 1-800-800-3222.
I'll tell you about what's coming up tomorrow right after 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. Following Jesus doesn't mean avoiding life's storms. In fact sometimes obedience leads us right into them. Be sure to join us tomorrow here on the alternative as we discover ways to experience God's presence, peace, and purpose even in the midst of turmoil.
