Testimony for the Ages

Understand that when you are down to nothing. Only because God is up to something Jonathan Evans reminds his every situation we face is part of God's plan may not be your plane, but it's a good plan and is to give you a future and they give you a hope. This is the alternative Tony have author, speaker and pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas Texas and president of the alternative, not one of us is immune to wondering why we face certain struggles in our lives. But today, Jonathan Evans explains that God can turn any negative situation into something good for us and for those around us. Let's join in for this special message as it gives us a look at the big picture. Each person in this world can look back and tell a story of how they got to where they currently are to talk to you about one verse, and what I call a testimony for the ages because this verse spells out how this thing works. It spells out how testimony works. How this church is gotten to where it is how you gotten to where you are, how I'm even able to stand on this stage right now and we were God's called me to be at this very moment. If the testimony is found in Genesis 50 verse 20 mil you will know it will after I read this verse and say it out loud. You may make the church space because you notices reverse Joseph was looking at his brothers. Anything you meant it for evil but God meant it for good. In order to bring about this present result to preserve many lives.

That right there is a testimony. He's looking back on his life and he's recounting his story to get him to the place where he currently is.

Now what about 100 years old he died of 110 and is looking back and letting the people in his presence know his brothers that there was something bad that happened.

But God was able to turn around and make it good it was to bring me to the place where I'm currently standing in the goal is always to preserve somebody's life. That's how the testimony works. That's how your testimony works.

That's how Joseph's testimony worked in he's letting us know he's giving us some of his 2020 vision and some of his hindsight so that some of us that may be in the hard part or the pit part or the dark part. The empty part, the part that's hard to give you a little bit of some of his vision so that you don't give up because there is going to be somebody in the future that's going to be counting on your testimony.

The reason why you're sitting in this room is because early on when things are tough. The church didn't give up and now there are many people who are benefiting on the church's testimony. The fact that we can stand here for 42 years, but Joseph let you know that this testimony is an investment that God makes in your life.

He starts out by the telling of brothers, you meant it for evil, you know what he was talking about, you know the story. I just want to survey it for second he's talking about Genesis 37. You see, Joseph was the man who had favor from his father. His father loved him and gave him a robe or tunic a very colored tunic that represented dominion and authority that represented his calling that represented the fact that he had been handed rights, firstborn rights, even though he wasn't the firstborn, so he had that external evidence of the father's favor that he was wearing, but not only did he have that Joseph had a dream. He was a visionary. He had a dream of things that he was thinking about how high up.

He would go and that his brothers would actually be bowing down to him and so somebody didn't give his brothers the memo that favoring fair somebody didn't let his brothers know that it is everybody doesn't get portion out the same. It doesn't work like that. Matthew 25 wasn't written then so they didn't know about the talents in the five and the two when the one they didn't understand all of that, so they didn't get the memo that favoring fair so when they saw that tunic and when they heard those dreams. They were jealous and they did not want Joseph to experience the calling on his life. So it says in Genesis 3723 and 24 that his brothers stripped him of his tunic is very colored tunic and then they threw him into the pit and the pit was empty without any water in it. So here Joseph is gone from having the father's favor to being stripped of the external evidence of the father's favor. Then being thrown into a pit and then being in a pit or he's not even getting the simplest of provisions.

Water and feeling that it's empty and so they stripped him of the external evidence of the father's favor on his life. But why do they do that because they couldn't strip him of his dream. That's internal so because they couldn't reach into his brain and stripped him of his dream. That's what they wanted. They decided to strip him of the evidence of his dream so that his external body would never make it to his drink. See, this is a tactic of the enemy. John 1010 the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy is trying to take your testimony from you in the way that he does that is to strip you of the external evidence of the father's favor in your life so that you will feel like you have lost the father's favor in your life and if I can make you feel like you have lost the father's favor. Then I can make you operate as if you do not have the father's favor. So what the brothers were doing as they were stripping him externally, but it was so that they can get an internal result get them into a pit where he can't move. That's what the enemy did with Joe you read the story took his house. He took his family.

He put Boyles on his skin. He did all of these external methods, but it was for an internal result, you need to deny God, my purpose is to try to get you to denounce God is not about all of these external things. I'm just using that as a vehicle, it did what Adam and Eve. You see this for you see that tree got him to think about the external, but the purpose was for internal sin to mess up the world. They did it with Jesus in Matthew chapter 4, he showed him the rock turned in the Brady show them the kingdoms of this article, I'll give them to you but I need you to bow down and worship me. He's always trying to do something in our external world to strip us of what God is trying to do in the spiritual providential world.

Just because you lose the external evidence of the father's favor, doesn't mean you don't still have the internal providence of what God is doing. We have to have clarity of vision in Genesis 50 gives us clarity of vision based on this testimony that God has a testimony for your life. He has a purpose for your life.

It is not random. You are not here just to sit soaked in sour in a random mundane way of living.

He can't create the universe and create a self-sustaining world based on the water from an article when it melts and goes down so that we can have vegetation so that we can still grieve and have all of these things that are working in unison like your body but then create you for random purpose. It doesn't work like that God has a purpose for your life. If he didn't, you wouldn't be sitting in here but what the enemy wants you to do is think otherwise.

When he put you in that alike I come knocking to make it. I'm not really sure that I'm not can it get there.

I don't really know if God has my back. I feel forgotten. This is for me. I see what everybody else is doing. But I'm my vision is fuzzy because I don't see what God is doing in my life that is a tactic of the enemy to ruin your Genesis 50 experience. I don't know if you've ever been to a superhero movie and the movie didn't have no villain or no problem.

But nobody want to watch in a superhero movie just flying around.

Just as he got talent he needs to be able to fix something in order to want to super to his hero and the reason why we know we serve a superhero because we stand in at 42 years because there were some problems that he redirected it said that you meant it for evil but God meant it for good words were talking about the same. Genesis 37 experience but God change the meaning of the same experience were talking about the same thing but God is the meaning change or he comes into the problem and he changes your testimony from a problem to appraise. Let me show you how he did that for Joseph.

Joseph was stripped in chapter 37, but in chapter 41 UC 41 versus 42 starting there you see that Pharaoh takes off his signet ring and gives it to Joseph puts it on his hand. Then Pharaoh clothes. Joseph with the royal road. Then Pharaoh puts a necklace around his neck. Now the necklace the royal rope in the ring mean that you share the authority of Pharaoh. It says that when you come through everybody's going bow their knee because Joseph had dreams that got him stripped, but he also had dreams that got them equipped, don't you know that God will allow you to endure stripping, but it's only because he's trying to position you in the 40 future equipment understand that when you are down to nothing. It's only because God is up to something, we gotta understand that what you're going through is for testimony somebody's life is going to be preserved by your story so you can't give up. He's telling his brothers human or for evil. But don't worry it's okay because God meant this thing for good. So God real quick him even though he was strip you got that, but I want to show you how else God took that same scenario to turn it and make a good that's why people are passionate about things they previously experienced. Have you ever noticed that your passion to help somebody comes from the very thing you use the struggle with God uses that and turns it upside down so that you can have a testimony to preserve somebody's life realize this is not just about you, Jonathan Evans will share with us a trying personal story from his family continues. Today's message just a moment there with us.

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Our first child in front of you pregnant ladies in the room right now. This will be your story, but it wasn't her. We got induced with Kelsey.

Probably a week before she was scheduled to be born because they said she was there to be a big baby and sure enough she came out at 88 so waited a week she might hit the nine day are two sons were 9591 so the winning plan okay but we went in and they lay down and they gave her medication that medication had a negative effect on my life. She had contractions with no breaks, so she would have exactly all the ladies that had made that's whack so so her contractions are going up as I'm looking at it on the monitor and then it's falling down and I see her breathing so nothing goes right back up and she would say all Lord, here he comes again, an online Lord Jesus is and I'm thinking I'm saying out loud. I wish I could take it from your was like in my mind and like to forget about that. I can say that now in a cavity in the end is not right. No heroes around here we go. Then we went through 16 hours of labor. Okay, your experience, and then finally the baby came and it was just gay. You know who Tyler was. So I had already shut down in my mind that because of this experience.

We just had we done we will in and out of their I'm pretty sure that my wife is not going to do this again. After going through that type of experience. We came so after about 10 months past. She came to me and she said I'm ready for number two. But don't you remember what happened with number one, don't you remember she said I remember.

But look at this baby. So what she was looking at overrode what she remembered about the pain of the birth so I said are you sure you want to do this and she said I'm sure I want to do this. It was the baby see when God delivers what he's going to deliver in your life you look at that baby and say it was worth. Let's do this thing again.

There is a testimony and he said it was so good that I can even remember my troubles in my father's household that God is trying to do something in your life.

He's trying to birth something and produce something and bring fruit about but you can quit.

You can throw in the towel in the middle of your testimony or the stripping from the enemy would have one that he's taken you down and you never lost the father's favor.

Just because you lost a little bit of physical evidence physical evidence does doesn't override God spiritual Providence so never get it twisted. As you're walking through this life that I got to keep going because somebody's life is going to be preserved. Based on my testimony. When we tell you a story about my testimony just for second everybody knows my dream was to play in the NFL wanted to play in the NFL. I told God just allow me to run out the tunnel, I just wanted that opportunity to play a few games in the NFL and I got a chance, I was picked up in the 2005 draft class by the Dallas Cowboys. Three weeks into being equipped I was stripped I walked up to the door and the guy that we call the Grim Reaper. He stepped out and put his hands on my chest.

Then he reached out and he took the playbook didn't say a word. He just pointed that way because you know what that means. He just going back now only had 20 minutes to mope with a plan for the account without me home in 20 minutes so it's not like I got a flight to cry about it know I gotta go home and try to reassemble and then I got a call from the San Diego Chargers.

I said okay. Got let's make this thing happen.

Let's make this dream come to life.

And then they said were going to allocate you to NFL Europe so that you can develop like develop only to develop so I go to this NFL Europe league and things keep going downhill were in training camp and you have a two hour practice and they let you take off your helmet and eat a banana and apple put it back on and go do another to our practice. I say the same for me. I don't want to do this route there in Tampa is hot. We finally a flight to Germany is white walls, white sheets, no English-speaking channels for several months.

I wanted to quit. I call my dad and I told him I said I'm going to quit football amount I'm done.

This is not for me. So I said book a flight because I will have no money. I need you to book this ticket so I can get home because this is not for me I can handle this stripping that I'm going through my favorite scenes like it's been lost or gone I need to go home so he reassures and I said I'm really sure book the ticket he booked the ticket I go sit in the coaches office and tell them I'm going home. He said will want you to go home for good player. I said literally I don't care what you want this job and everything I can with what you want because I was frustrated and I'm 22 years old 23 years old. I'm going home right now and he said we can go home right now because you haven't been your exit physical your exit physical tomorrow night because that's a liability. You let a player go home before he does exit physicals then come back and say I was hurt on the job and try to get paid that way.

So I called my dad and said I can't go home till tomorrow night. My dad said don't you think it's interesting that all Lord knows this philosopher that you couldn't leave when you wanted to leave because I want you to do some forming.

I want you to go out to one more practice and I want you to ask God if he wants you there in spite of what you think you want to be there so I went back out to that practice and I kid you not in the practice.

I was crying you know when you're really crying because you can't control your neck just because I don't want to be there. This is the pit for me to experience what I asked God if you want me to be and you will have to give me a peace that surpasses all understanding, and I kid you not. The next time I put my hand in the dirt's that's exactly what I felt made the next play and turned around and looked in my coach and I said I'm staying in and he said okay great. Don't know where this came from but then I realized by the end of the season.

My teammates had given me a new nickname call me rear seven players accepted Jesus Christ. So now I know the business transaction that has to take place to get the feel and the NFL was all I can do is pray for people lead people to Jesus know you will let me run up the tunnel right so I'm just trying to manipulate God for him to put me in the palace where I see myself so I go to the Titans.

I do it will. God's call me to do, but I still get cut. I go to the Washington Redskins. I do it, but I still get cut. But finally, in 2011 I'm standing in the tunnel. I circle back around to the Dallas Cowboys and I called my dad and I said that we did it we hear I'm about to run out the tunnel for the first time in my dad said amen son amen know what you should be wondering why were you got your cell phone in the tunnel because the first time I ran out of the tunnel for my first NFL game wasn't the player I was the chaplain because God has a plan for your testimony. Now, it may not be your plane, but it's a good plan to give you a future and they give you Jonathan Evan reminding us that God has our best interests at heart when we allow him to do his work in our lives. But if you've never asked him to do that hears Dr. Evans to tell us why it's so important. The greatest need all of our lives.

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