Divine Disruption

Talking today about an option tell you what Dr. Tony Evans is the unthinkable can help us appreciate the unshakable God has put us in distress allowed us to be in the stress he wants us to close this is the alternative Dr. Tony speaker Pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas Texas and president of the alternative. We've all learned this year how easily our idea of normal can be turned upside down, but Dr. Evans is God is using the pandemic for his purposes today will help us make sure we don't miss the point of this divine disruption must join him as he explains what ministers say were the major situation here. A major crisis but this is more than just about a virus. This only thing the virus you don't see all that's taking place right now.

I want to talk to you today about a divine disruption: tell you what's really going on everything visible and physical is preceded by that which is invisible and spiritual. So if you want to address that which is visible in physical you must identify the cause of the cure to what is invisible and spiritual. That's what I want to read to you versus five and six of second Chronicles 15 it says in those times there was no peace to him went out to him came in from any disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the land nation was crushed by nation and city by city from God troubled them with every kind of distress you have described a world in chaos, individual lives with without peace when they went home. That was family conflict.

He said city rose up against city that was community conflict. That is, as nation rose up against nation that was international despair in the common denominator to all of them was chaos.

No peace. I think you'll agree. Everybody's restless right now, afraid, nervous, insecure, no peace. What I catch your attention is the end of verse six of second Chronicles 15 it says for God troubled them with every kind of distress. Wait a minute, God took the blame for what was happening for God troubled God is saying I'm behind your lack of peace in your disturbances in the Old Testament when God wanted to address the fact that people are departed from him that would be judgment. With the death of Jesus Christ in history, God recast his relationship to the world.

The Bible says in second with his five the world was reconciled to God through the death of Jesus Christ. So now God doesn't rain down viruses he got rained down fire and brimstone, but we can experience what will call the passive wrath of God that's described in Romans chapter 1 verses 24, 26 and 28 it says and God turned them over and God turn them over the third time and God turned the boat because they would no longer take him seriously because they departed from him. He just released them to let them see would like to look like out sweetest like a dog on a leash and lets the leash go.

He lets you run your own way from you and then you run into the consequences of that abandoned see what Romans one is describing is what happens when an individual or family a church or nation depart from him, it creates a vacuum and we know nature pours a vacuum where it will be filled with something in the something that is filled with when God is not filling it isn't too pleasant.

I like to suggest the use of the coronavirus is filling a vacuum due to the absenteeism of God that we know God exist everywhere but I'm talking about the relational absenteeism of God, and he says you don't want me you have life without me but you created a hole in which boy things are entering into it that you really don't want what we need to understand is that what we are going through today worldwide, and individually is a divine disruption. He is disrupting the normal natural and preferred order of things on every single level individual, no peace and went home, no peace cities, no peace nations, no peace.

This is worldwide. Because God is sending a world wide message. What was the problem. There were three problems to three courses if you will, of the chaos that they were going through and that we are going through in this crisis that we face. He says in verse three second Chronicles 15 there was no true God didn't say there was no belief in God he said was false true God.

They had replaced the true God with idols and called the God what is an idol and idle as any male person, place, thing, the thought that you look to as your source independently of the true God true God is a false person placed single thought that becomes your point of reference that is called an idol in the Bible to greatness in all the Bible is idolatry. Because what you've done is remove God's exclusivity clause. No competitors allowed. When we adopt idols, and they can be sophisticated. They can be technology money people relationships.

They can be religion all of those can be idols. Your career can be your idle your education and your degrees can be an idol with ever bad thing is placed alongside of, or in front of the God who has revealed himself.

It will be rejected by him, a distance will happen from him and it will open up a whole for wrong things to enter into that space. You see, we like the username God. But if you go uses name the information you give must be correct about you can't make up stuff calling God and think he's okay with it just because you have the right nomenclature when living in a day when God is been put on the loop like those highways to go around the city.

We want God close enough to be respectable far enough not to be bothered with. We want to be able to reference him on Sunday but we don't need is information direction decrees on Monday.

We want to say we believe in him, but we're not Dick catered to by and so we don't want it with the true God even when we were praying, singing songs and going to church. We often wind up doing it for the idol that we use the name God for he said there was no true God. There was no real God. He had been replaced by false gods. But why, why was there no true God. Well, verse three says because it was a second problem there was a void of teaching priest, since there were no teaching priest see the mist of the pool.

Is goby a fault in the pew. When the pulpits fail in the pew become confused because of the pulpits family and the culture is not to be let in the right direction. The problem is the failure of the church. A church is a failed with thus saith the Lord. We placated ourselves to the culture and dumbed down the deity by ignoring his word. God is spoken and he has not. Studies done that in his word is an errant errorless book to speak to all issues for all of life and he's wrong about none of them. He wants to just tell you how to live your personal life. Yes, he wants to define your sexuality for you not have you to find it for yourself. Yes, he was to define marriage and what it should be and what it should not be.

Yes, he was define what it means to be a man what it means to be a woman what it means to be parents of children should respond to their parents. Yes he wants to define that he was to define how religions oppose works for church is supposed to operate and how governments are supposed there and operate for the citizens which he wants to define all of that, especially since he says I created governments. So when you go out and you create your own rules about any at all.

Subject to any of the subject come up with. You have insulted him, and when the pulpits fail to do that.

The pulpits are giving people votes on what God has said like this is a majority rule situation when it comes to what he is spoken about. Then there are no teaching priest were not conforming people to God standard which is making them comfortable with their own standards, leading to all kinds of confusion that we've already seen in our lives and our culture now in our calamity. He says no there was no teaching priest know God wants to speak into the issues of righteousness and justice since how to handle the poor equity in economics and how to handle finances.

All of that all of that. He speaks about is the job of the teaching priest to declarant the speak it yes with love but with clarity. There should be no one certain sounds from the pulpit, not when you're speaking on behalf of God and his word must become the new standard.

The old book must become the current standard by which all issues are addressed by which all people must conform and by which all systems must be adjusted no matter how hard they go hello bingo matter whether their political, social, economic or entertainment when we take the true God seriously and when pastors and preachers and leaders take what he says seriously and stop kowtowing to the culture and start speaking with spiritual authority, and Holy Ghost. Guts so that the people know God is spoken and I'm going to conform it from church about to go public with it in society. Yes, letting people know we care, we love them and we won for best. The only way I can give you my best is to give the team based on what God says so. We live in a world where the truth of God is being watered down, dumbed down and so it's been camouflage while we still quote versus will reference God but the God of the Bible is being lost because we believe in the Bible out while trying to keep God you can do it.

God has raised his word about his name.

You must take this word seriously. That is if you want to take solutions seriously. This must mean that the pulpits must preach in such a way that it overrides what people think it overrides what your mom and daddy taught you can overrides which professors have to say it overrides what the media is trying to promote when it disagrees with him… Time… This is not a time for some minutes is the time for serious communication of thus saith the Lord without apology, but with love with Carrie.

Understanding with compassion doctrines will continue our look at turbulent times when he returns. In a few moments stay with us everywhere you look in 2020. You see pain and division until you look Jesus, the story of the kingdom of God, transforming hearts is the hope. We need right now and today we are asking for your year-end gift to help keep that hope going out to the urban alternative. Your financial support to help cover the cost of this ministry and ensure more listeners like you continue to be encouraged by God's word please visit Tony at his data for ticket today. We are counting on you. Please help us continue bringing utilities teaching in the new year.

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So we started off by saying there was no true God to God been replaced by false religion. That's because there were no teaching priest coming in the church is spoken more than just ignore looks on a hill at supposed be influencing the environment, then it says there was no law.

In other words people had no guidelines to govern their actions. People going around today, well this is my truth. This is what I think this is how I feel this is what I believe no you don't get to believe apart from God you don't have truth.

The disagrees with God because then you call God a liar. You know how we feel people call us a liability. I think Garfield will photo here liar because I believe this God even though you said that, go by when I believe that what you since you just said God you a liar. I know Morty you go tell you how we can do this since it was the law. So guess with a wound that within a guess what we have now chaos distress that God allowed not because he raining down viruses because we dismissed him.

And so it's open the door for viruses and other things that bring about dismay confusion and conflict. And yes what he says here is lack of peace.

Whatever is the question that is their solution. God is the cause of those God is the cure was secure for the cause of verse four of said Chronicles 15 tells us and says, but in their distress, they turned to the Lord God of Israel, they saw him and he let them find that you see that you hear that in their distress.

What is the same thing is spoken of in verse six God calls their distress then it says in their distress, select look about were distress God use the distress to create their distress because it was the distress that put them in distress that they wanted to get out of. Said another way, God will let things get as chaotic as they need to get until he gets the undivided attention because he wants to be mean he wants attention.

We do that with our children. We make things inconvenient, until they pay attention. This virus is a health crisis. We need to listen to our health leaders.

We need to keep that visit that social distancing is not the best word is physical distancing because we still may be socially connected to technology will keep us connected but we need to keep our space. Yes, we need be aware of the symptoms and can act accordingly. Yes, we must be wise and that but don't think that that's all you dealing with or with dealing with as a society and the world we did was something much deeper in their distress, they cried to the Lord.

They saw him. You know what God is wanting now he was wanting a return to him from your life with your family with our churches and with the government, yet even the government since he created government. He wants to return in the lenders want us using his name doing an introductory prayer know he wants to set the agenda, call the shots and have us adjust our plans to what he says should happen.

That's what he wants. He wants conformity to his will. Submission to his authority and the relationship with us as his people. They sought the Lord their God.

How you see You pursue a relationship, while simultaneously submitting to his authority.

Those two things you pursue a relationship, while simultaneously submitting to his rule is authority he has the last word over your word.

Your thoughts while you were raised their distress woke them up. We better get right with God's allow distress and lack of peace can be corrected by the God who gave us the distress and since he let them find you know what because that's what exact all the time. After that he's after this relationship were out of alignment we would not were not in alignment with him and is letting us know these things that happen there. I know that a lot of people will dismiss this because it look like okay it sounds more religious than practical to the virus.

No, it is at the core of the issue of the virus. So I want to challenge. I want to challenge you to make knowing him drawing near to him connecting with him. Your goal, I can give you a direct route. By the way, the Lord Jesus Christ, the son of the living God, born of a bird to live the perfect life.a substitutionary death in your place for your sins to give you the gift of eternal life, and connected with the father and anybody who comes to Christ for the forgiveness of sins and for the gift of eternal life is granted to you free don't have to earn it can't work for is giving away you come to the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation you will ignite a relationship with God and then as you cultivate that relationship. Reading his words reading the book of John reading Isaiah 40 to understand how he's in control of everything using this word to get the milk that God through his son will begin to see he can speak peace while we wait on him solving to solve problems by member then amount was married to my wife of 49 1/2 years course a few months ago she went into eternity. Due to a bout with cancer, but I was reflecting on how we met when we met, I saw this lovely young lady but she was not responding at the rate to which I was accustomed girlfriend was moved a little slow slather and help assist out about so I took her to an amusement park in Baltimore, Maryland Caldwell mouse.

While most of the roller coaster for two in all of this roller coaster things but that some melted egg lichens go jump off the track and in turn real quick. I given two tickets. They gave me two tickets got on well most the wilder the ride got the closer she got.

By the time the ride was over. You thought only one person got old CI created distress because I want her to get closer to see that's what God does. He creates distress causes after relationship, but he knows as long as you will have the distress you will stay on your side you don't want you that far from God has put us in distress or allowed us to be in distress because he wants us to snuggle up close. Now is the time to run to him, seek him pursue him be passing at this after him to come to know his son and through his son come to know him to get into his word to grow in your commitment to him and then to submit whatever he says, whether you feel that not because your feelings must be the caboose, not the engine and then let's watch him deal with the problems because he's had the ability to draw near to us can change us.

May God bless you as you pursue him, and as our culture learns that the God who causes the distress also alleviates the distress we return to. If you're ready to embrace God and want to know Jesus more fully you can do that today.

One of the simplest ways to learn how is to visit Tony Evans.org and follow the link that says Jesus there. Dr. Evans will explain everything you need to know about what it means to be a real Christian, and how to start your brand-new life. That's Tony Evans.org you can get the latest on Tony's ministry and resources sign up for his free email devotional and download other resources that will help you grow spiritually. Also while you're there, don't forget to take advantage of our special year-end audio compilation the best of Tony Evans 2020. As I mentioned earlier, we are including all 20 lessons in this giant collection bundled along with Tony's popular devotional book called for a purpose. This resource package makes a perfect gift for someone you care about right now. We like to make it a gift for you.

Make your contribution online@tonyevans.org today or call our resource Center at 1-800-800-3222 again that's Tony ever and is.org or call us anytime of the day or night at 1-800-800-3222 when we're up against impossible circumstances is perfectly natural for what we feel to contradict what we believe but tomorrow Dr. Evans points out, our emotions aren't as important as what we choose to do next.

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