David, what is that in your hand?
It's only a slingshot. That's all I got. Dr. Tony Evans says, even if what we have seems like it only amounts to a losing bet, the Lord has equipped us to beat the odds.
How much more should you be able to do if you know the true God, if you know how to use what you have in your eyes? This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless Biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. As the holidays come to an end, it's time to settle into another new year, and how we feel about facing it may depend on what's facing us. Dr. Evans explains today how we can deal with the issues and obstacles that lie ahead.
Let's join him. I don't know what you're up against. I don't know what you're facing. Neither do you know what I'm facing. But if we were betting people, I would suggest all of us are facing something. Some more than others.
In fact, some of us are facing so much that the odds appear to be against us. The man's name is Shemgar. There are only two verses that refer to him in the Bible. It's in the book of Judges. Judges chapter 3 verse 31 says, After him came Shemgar, the son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an ox gourd, and he saved Israel. Now the second verse concerning this man is found in chapter 5 verse 6 of Judges.
In the days of Shemgar, the son of Anath, in the days of Jeil, the highways were deserted, and travelers went about roundabout ways. First of all, let me suggest that the odds were against Shemgar because we read that he struck down six hundred Philistines with an ox gourd. That's six hundred to one odds.
I don't know what your odds look like, but probably not too many of us have six hundred to one odds. Whatever those odds were, he beat them. And that's what puts his name in this book. We're told that they had deserted the highways and they went roundabout ways. That was because the highways have become dangerous. They were living in a day of Philistine terrorism.
People had deserted the main thoroughfares. They would go to back roads in order to avoid being attacked by marauding bands of Philistines who were invading Israel and wreaking havoc among the land. And so it was a day of terror. People were living in fear.
The security that they had wanted and had historically known was no longer there. It looked like the enemy was calling the shots. You can't go down a straight road anymore because the enemy has got it covered.
Every time you look like you're going straight, he picks you off. That was the circumstances in Shemgah's time. There are three principles that show us why Shemgah was able to beat the odds.
There was a key, a key point that let his three principles work. Shemgah started where he was. Shemgah's a farmer because Shemgah has an ox gourd. And what you do with ox gourd is you poke oxen to get them to pull the plow.
It has a sharp end on one end and then it has a flat end on the other to dig up the roots of crops on your farm. Now, why is it important to know that Shemgah is a farmer? Because chapter 3 verse 31 says, "'After him came Shemgah the son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an ox gourd, and he saved Israel.'" Shemgah becomes a leader of Israel, but he didn't start there. Shemgah started on a farm. He didn't wait to say, well, after things get better.
He didn't procrastinate and wait for stuff to get better before he got going. Shemgah started where he was. They tell me that one kernel of wheat in the ground produces a stalk bearing three heads of wheat. And each head is 15 to 35 kernels, all together producing somewhat close to 100 kernels from the stalk, which then will, when planted, will produce 10,000. When those 10,000 are replanted, it becomes a million. It's amazing what one person can do if they just start right where they are. Shemgah is a farmer.
He's not a military man. But what Shemgah was not about to allow was 600 fools to control his life. See, the reason why some of us can't beat the odds is we got 600 Philistines calling the shots.
We got 600 fools going nowhere, keeping us from getting anywhere. When I get older, when I get a raise, when I get a better job, when I get a better apartment, when I get a better house, when I get, when I get, when I get, when I get, when I get, you'll be 80 years old talking about when. No, not Shemgah.
See, Shemgah believed that things don't have to remain as they are. He says that we can't go down the highway, the bands of people are acting crazy, and they don't have to be like this. He dreamt of a better future, but he started where he was. What's your dream? Have you started? What do you see out there for you? What do you see with your name written on it that says this is for you?
Have you started? You say, but I don't have much. All Shemgah had was an ox gourd. I get asked by young preachers sometime, how do you grow in Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, was I guess the last young preacher who asked me, how do you grow a church that has going, going 200 acres, I guess, and buildings, and how do you grow that? What he's asking for is a pill.
He's saying, drop this in some water and show me how to grow this. I'm sure he wasn't too impressed with my answer when I told him, well, I started preaching on street corners with my father as a teenager in Baltimore. Now, that's all I could do. I go out on the street corner and I preach and hand out tracts with my father. And he'd take me to the prisons and every now and then he'd let me get up and say something.
Because that's all I could do. I went to college and I would go out in Atlanta to the bus stops and I'd go in front of the bus stops while people were waiting on the buses and preach to people waiting on buses. They weren't going anywhere. So while they would stand there and wait on the buses, I'd open my Bible and preach John 3.16 and invite them to accept Christ right there on the bus stop because that was all I could do.
When we started, we only had 10 people and we'd go around knocking on doors and sharing our faith and inviting people to our worship service and an apartment because that's all we had. What I was telling this young man is, what can you do right where you are? Shemgar started right where he was. There's a second principle from Shemgar's life that will help you beat the odds in the new year. He not only started where he was, but he used what he had. You see, the verse says, and after him came Shemgar, the son of Anath, who struck down 600 Philistines with an ox gourd. Now, we're only told he had one tool at his disposal. It was an ox gourd.
That's all he had. In case you don't know it, you have an ox gourd. If you're a Christian here today, you have an ox gourd. There is nobody here today who has not been handed by God an ox gourd. The mere fact that you name the name of Jesus Christ means that you have been gifted with something from God to be used to beat the odds. All he has is an ox gourd. He has limited resources, but what he discovered was his limited resource was a lethal weapon. When you survey the Bible, you will see story after story of people who didn't have much.
In fact, sprinkled throughout the year, I'm going to just drop one every now and then on you, just to bring this to your attention so that you know that the odds should never define you. All Moses has is a stick with a hook on it. That's all the man's got. All he knows how to do is shepherd sheep now.
He's been doing it for 40 years. God says, Moses, what is that in your hand? He says, it's a stick. Throw it down. Now it's a snake.
Pick it up. Now it's a stick again. Now hold it over the Red Sea. All of a sudden, a little old stick becomes a powerful weapon in the hands of Moses to open up the Red Sea.
He must have had more than a stick. David, what is that in your hand? It's only a slingshot.
That's all I got. Goliath is causing chaos among the Israelites, and all he has is a slingshot. That's all a little teenage boy has, but he knew how to use it, and that leads him to become king of Israel. All he's got is a slingshot.
All the little boy had was some fish and some barley loaves. All he had was his lunch, but in the hands of God, it said 5,000 men, not counting women and children. It's amazing what you have in your hand, if you use it. All Shemgah has, according to this verse, because it's all he uses, is an ox cord. The secular world understands this.
The Christian world sometimes is slow to grasp it. I mean, all Serena Williams has is a tennis racket. I mean, come on, come on, come on.
It's all day. All you got is a tennis racket. No, no, I got a clothing line. No, I got TV appearances. No, I got major investments.
You mean all that because of what she has in her hand? How much more should you be able to do if you know the true God, if you know how to use what you have in your hand? When we return to Dr. Evans in just a moment, he'll talk specifically about how to remove some of the confusion in your life and center in on your God-given goals and dreams. Right now, though, he has a few words to share with us as we step into 2025. I want to start off by wishing you a blessed new year.
I know God's got something special for you. I don't know what it is, but you need to write this and let us know when you find out whatever God's good word for you is in the upcoming year. I also want to ask you for your continued generous support and help to The Urban Alternative. We really need friends who will partner with us, pray for us, so that we can keep the Word going forth. You know, we're seeing lives changed because of the Word of God that goes out over the broadcast. And it's friends like you who come along with us to help us to get the Word out.
We can't do it without you. And as our way of saying thanks for your gift toward the ministry of the alternative, we'd like to send you a special gift package for the new year that includes a collection of the messages that our listeners have found the most helpful and informative this past year. It's called The Top 24 of 2024. And along with them, we're also including The Greatest Gift, a nine-track Christmas album from renowned gospel artist Anthony Evans. Visit tonyevans.org for details on how to get The Greatest Gift and The Top 24 of 2024. And when you do, you'll also see an opportunity to add a hardcover edition of the Tony Evans Study Bible. Find out how to do that at tonyevans.org or by phone any time of the day or night at 1-800-800-3222. I'll repeat that contact information for you after the second part of today's message.
Here's Dr. Evans. The third thing about Shemgah is he did what he could. You know, he started where he was. He didn't wait until he got off the farm to make a difference. He's a farmer. The only thing he knew how to use well was an ox gourd, so he used what he had.
And then he did what he could. You see, we're told in this verse that he defeats 600 Philistines. How do you beat 600 Philistines? That's not real.
That's not practical. If 600 of anybody comes at you and all you got is a stick with a point on it, I mean, how do you defeat 600 folk coming at you? He didn't defeat 600 Philistines at the same time. Chapter 5 verse 6 tells us that no one traveled the highways because they went in roundabout ways. In other words, he picked them off.
He picked off two here and three there and four here and five— in other words, when they were all counted up and all the grays were counted, 600 went down. Your dream is not going to come true overnight. It's not going to happen overnight in most cases. There are some exceptions to that, but those are rare.
Your dreams are going to come true because you picked off a little here and then you picked off a little there and then you picked off a little here and you picked off a little there, you picked off a little here, and then you look back over time and you discover you beat the odds. He was not about to let 600 people to define his destiny. And you ought not to let people to define yours. See, everybody else knows what you ought to be doing. It would be helpful if you knew. Because then you don't have to listen to 600 different voices with 600 different ideas sending you in 600 confusing directions.
You picked off a little here. How do you write a book? Last time I checked, one chapter at a time. How do you win a championship? One game at a time.
How do you lose weight? One pound at a time. Many of us are trying to beat the odds of debt and make sure my name is in your will.
The more sane biblical approach is to line up all your bills, take your smallest bill first, pay off that bill, then take the money that you used to pay off that bill and the money that you saved now that you don't have to pay that bill and go to the next bill, then you collect that together and you go to the next bill, then you collect that together and you go to the next bill, then you collect that together and you go to the next bill and after a while you look back and see you beat the debt odds. You did it a little at a time. It didn't all just happen because grandmother left you a mint.
It happened because you did what you could. It's time that life no longer is allowed to define you and it is time that other people are no longer allowed to define you. It is time for God to define you. Shemga has a secret and it is the key to beating the odds for you in the new year. It's his name. You see, the word Shemga means one who listens to God.
That is the key to Shemga's success. One who listens to God. Have you ever been to the state fair or to a carnival of any kind and you'll hear all the voices around you calling your name? Harry, Harry, Harry. They're calling you. They're all calling. Try this.
Try that. There are so many voices all calling your name. All of you that are wanting you to play their game. They're wanting you to spend your money to play their game and their game is designed for them to win, not for you to win.
And they will gladly give you a doll or a teddy bear after you've spent $25 trying to win it. Because they are calling you to play their game. The reason why Shemga was successful is that Shemga was only listening to one voice. Shemga's attitude was, God, what do you want me to do? And as long as I hear that clearly from you, I'm going to start where I am, use what I have, do what I can.
And I'm going to trust you to enable me to beat the odds. Some people will tell you that you can't get there from here because of your race. Now, is that some folk telling you that or is that God talking? If God told you because you're black or Hispanic or Anglo or whatever, God told you you're not going to get there because of your race and because you're not going to get there. But if God didn't say it, then you're giving people too much credit.
Some people are going to tell you, you're not smart enough, you're not strong enough, you're not fast enough, you're not good enough, you're not, you're not, you're not, you're not. That's not the question unless God said it. When God listened to God, he refused to be hung up with the sights and sounds of the carnival.
If I would have listened to the group on the corner that I grew up with, I would still be on the corner with them. But I had somebody else whispering in my ear that you do not have to limit yourself to the location you're raised. You don't have to limit yourself to how other people define you. My prayer for each of you is that you maximize your divine potential. And everybody's different. God is not calling us to have the same things, to make the same amount of money, to do the same career.
Everybody is different, but everybody has the same opportunity to maximize their potential for God. Whether that's in a secular career or in ministry or whatever, it happens to be that God has gifted you and equipped you, go find your ox gourd. You have one. And don't wait till you leave the farm to use it. Learn to be good with the ox gourd on the farm so when the 600 show up, you know how to wipe them out with it. You start where you are. You use what you have and you do what you can. Let me put it this way.
You've got to accept something. And that is that you can do what you think. Wait a minute. You can do more than you think. No, wait a minute. You can do if you would only think.
No, wait a minute. You really can do, you think? God has gifted you. He's equipped you so that the odds that are against you no longer have to control you if you'll stop listening to everybody but the one person you owe yourself to listen to. That is Almighty God. Beat the odds.
Don't let the 600 dictate to the one, not when the one knows the one. If you want to beat those odds and be an overcomer in the New Year but haven't yet allowed God to take a personal part in your life, Dr. Evans would be honored to show you how to start. Just visit tonyevans.org and follow the link that says Jesus.
There you can get a handle on what being a real Christian is all about and how to begin a brand new life with Heaven's help right here on Earth. Now if you'd like to get a full-length copy of today's lesson including material we didn't have time to present on the air, be sure to take advantage of the special offer I mentioned earlier. All full-length messages in the alternative broadcast Top 24 of 2024 collection are our gift to you when you make a contribution to help us keep Dr. Evans' teaching on this station. Drop by tonyevans.org to make your donation and request the Top 24 of 2024. For a limited time, we're also including the greatest gift Christmas album from gospel artist Anthony Evans. You'll even have a chance to sweeten this year-end package with the Tony Evans Study Bible. Get all the details at tonyevans.org or call our 24-hour resource center at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our team members help with your request. That number again 1-800-800-3222. When life becomes difficult, your faith will usually head one of two very different directions. Tomorrow Dr. Evans will share biblical guidelines that will help keep your spiritual commitment strong even through times of extreme stress. I hope you'll join us for that.
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