Dr. Tony Evans challenges the notion that God won’t give us more than we can handle, and emphasizes the importance of embracing brokenness and relying on God’s power in times of overwhelming adversity. Join him as he encourages us not to lose hope, reminding us that even in our darkest moments, God is at work. If you would like to download two encouraging, FREE full-length MP3s of Tony’s popular sermons: “The Sovereignty of God” and “How to Handle a Crisis,” you can do so by clicking on this link: https://share.hsforms.com/1atT9MJvXQN…
If you would like to sign up for our daily devotional bringing you hope and inspiration, please go to this link: https://share.hsforms.com/1CkOLA910Sm…
▶ Do you know Jesus as your Savior? https://tonyevans.org/know-jesus-christ/
▶ Stream Sermons: https://tonyevans.org/podcast/
▶▶ Free Sermon App: https://subsplash.com/tonyevans/app/
▶▶ DONATE: https://give.tonyevans.org/the-altern…
▶ Facebook: 
/ drtonyevans
▶ Instagram: 
/ drtonyevans
▶ Are you a preacher? Free sermon outlines: https://go.tonyevans.org/dr-tony-evan…
Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually.
most people have had that feeling at
some time and if you haven’t there will
be a time when you
do when you feel like God is doing a
number on
you you either feel it
because it could only be explained by
God or you feel it because God could
have stopped it and he
didn’t he could have changed it and he
didn’t he could have he could have made
it better and he
didn’t and you become disappointed with
God and you feel like he’s just killing
you meaning you just want to die you
just you’re just dying either literally
or emotionally or you know you’re just
dying God why are you killing
me the last 24
hours I’ve talked talk to five people
five different
individuals who were dying dying that is
who felt like they were unraveling
either emotionally or circumstantially
or careerwise or they were they were
hurting and God was nowhere to be
found in
fact sometimes it looks like God is
toing with
you cuz sometime it looks like it’s
getting better then it gets worse it
looks like it’s getting better then it
gets worse then it you
know finally look like he answered your
prayer now not answering your prayer you
know you feel like he just he’s killing
you because I’m I’m praying to you and
it’s not getting
better you tell me you love
me I don’t feel like like you love me
you tell me you’re going to be with me I
can’t see
you and it’s getting
worse and I’m
dying why is God Killing
Me 2 Corinthians
1 says in verse
8 for we do not want you to be unaware
Brethren of the Affliction which came to
us in
Asia that we were
burdened
excessively beyond our
strength so that we despise the
even of Life wow how bad was it Paul
verse nine the first line indeed we have
the sentence of
death written on
ourselves
he says it was
bad I mean it was really really
bad he says it was Affliction and then
he throws in this phrase it was beyond
our
strength so what I want to do right now
is I W to
demythologize I want to remove a
myth that we have
all we have
all quoted said
felt repeated to other people and to
ourselves and the myth
is God won’t put more on you than you
can
bear I want to remove that myth it sound
good sound like something God would
say sounds like it
works that God won’t put more on us than
we can
bear not
true Paul says it was beyond our
strength in other words it was beyond
our capacity to Bear it we couldn’t you
know we couldn’t take anymore I can’t
take this
I can’t handle
this I’m
dying he says and the sentence of death
was on
us in other words the the next thing on
the agenda was to die rather than live
like this rather than bear this rather
than go through this he’s saying God put
more on us than we could bear because
only there was only one thing left to
die how many of you been through that
you you just want to die you want to die
you know maybe you’re too scared of
dying but too afraid to live too afraid
to die but too don’t want to live
anymore you know dying he says it was
all over me and and it was more than we
could
bear
Sunday we talked about a
phrase
in knowing god that said being conformed
The Fellowship of his suffering being
conformed to his
death and the statement I made
was when God sends us through and it’s
getting worse and worse and worse and
worse and worse you praying and praying
and praying and praying it’s not getting
better that is an invit itation to a
deeper experience with him the
fellowship of his sufferings Fellowship
is is our sharing of
life being conformed to his
death he wants to change something
remove
something something is
there Paul goes on to say listen to his
words
in verse nine indeed we have the
sentence of death within
ourselves so that we would not trust in
ourselves but in God who raises the dead
listen to
me when you are
dying the sentence of death you’re
dying
that will always have one reality tied
to it and that one reality tied to it
because you know you’ve hit this place
cuz you can’t fix
this that that’s the common
denominator the reason that you want to
give up is there is no fixing in sight
you can’t fix it and you don’t know
anybody who
can all your Human Resources have been
depleted
why did he do that to you Paul he says
so that we would not trust in
ourselves God allows us to get to the
point where if this is ever going to be
fixed he is the only one who can do it
Paul said the reason God put me here was
to train
change my focus of
trust I had to deal with a trust
issue see Paul is a very talented man PA
Paul Paul isn’t kind of some get by Guy
Paul is very
talented his resume reads to the top of
the list Paul could do it
all so to take Paul
deeper in
faith he had to put him in a situation
he could not fix that his resume could
not handle that his abilities could not
change so that he would learn to trust
God so to force him to a deeper Faith
level he put him in a situation he
couldn’t could handle Beyond his
strength he couldn’t deal with it cuz he
was driving him to a deeper level of
experience with
him the word we use for
this is
Brokenness Brokenness is simply when God
strips us of our
self-sufficiency when God
removes our tenden
to depend upon
ourselves the problem is not using our
abilities or using our gifts or using
our talents or using our contacts God
puts those things there for us to
utilize in his
purposes but when he sees that we have
relied on
those you know we trust in the horses
the Old Testament talks about and the
bows and the arrows we don’t just use
them we Bank on them so so that even if
we don’t pray we know we got this Ace in
the
Hole even if we don’t look to God we
know we got this thing over here we can
go to in case God don’t
work if God is trying to take us to this
deeper
experience then he literally puts you in
an I can’t
situation I can’t handle it I can’t take
it I’m I’m going to crack under
this
but in God who raises the
dead God who raises the
dead it takes an awful lot of power to
raise something dead yeah you got to
have a little something so you gotta
have some
juice to raise the dead
okay one thing you
know if something was dead that got up
whatever got it up got a little
something something going
on cuz it takes some juice to raise the
Dead one of our
problems with
God is we’ve never seen him raise the
dead we have never seen so many
Christians have never seen God take a
hopeless situation and flip
it cuz it’s in those times when he takes
something that’s
hopeless and you see no way no
how and he flips that that God has now
become real to you at a level that he
was not
before like job it’s easy to say I’ve
heard about him with the hearing of the
ear that’s easy you can do that every
Sunday every Wednesday hear about him
with the hearing of the yeah but it’s a
whole another the thing to say I have
seen him with my own
eyes that’s a whole different Paradigm
when the understanding of the reality of
God has now burst on the scene cuz you
watch the
resurrection that’s why God let Lazarus
die he says I let Lazarus die because I
want to show you
something and Martha and Mary were all
upset they said you know you know if you
would have been here and Jesus stayed
away on
purpose let him die because he wanted to
show them a
resurrection is God being mean is he
being
honory it feels that way when you’re
going through it but what he’s really
doing is trying to take you
deeper he’s trying to blow your mind
because that’s what a resurrection does
it blows your
mind
don’t stop God from blowing your
mind every situation is different every
person is
different so I’m not giving a
blanket scenario for every circumstance
I’m just dealing with a
principle why are you killing me why is
this sentence of death I’m dying here
God I’m
dying Paul says because he wanted to he
wanted us to see a resurrection look at
this verse 10 who delivered us from so
great a
Peril of
death and will deliver
us he on whom we have set our
hope and he will deliver us do you see
that three times in that verse
he says I am delivered I will be
delivered and I will be
delivered I don’t know what grave you’re
in and some of us aren’t six feet under
we 16 feet under you know it’s just
getting a deeper hole the hole is
getting
deeper and you have done everything you
know to do it’s it’s one thing if you
haven’t done what you’re supposed to do
what God tells you do but but you’ve
done
that fact you tired of doing
that and sometimes you feel like you
could just get away from God just just
leave me
alone okay and you might as well tell
God you feel that because you know
you’re thinking it you it’s amazing to
me how people won’t be honest with God
like God won’t know if you don’t say
it he know you’re mad at him he know you
feel like he taking too long he know he
feels like you forgotten him and you’d
have moved on to somebody else trying to
sing Kum by yah my Lord he he knows all
that he is well aware and you might as
well tell him God I you have
disappointed
me he Paul says we had the sentence of
death on
us and God did
it
so that God might let us see that he
raises the dead and will deliver us we
have set our Hope on
him verse 11 says you’re joining us and
helping us through your
prayers so that thanks may be given by
many persons on our behalf for the favor
bestowed on us through the prayers of
many don’t be ashamed to pray and to
call for
prayer when you’re in your
Cemetery there’s some people here
tonight who are in a cemetery and you’re
just looking for your
headstone you’re looking for where
they’ve dug the hole you don’t even need
a casket you just ready to flaw in
there cuz you’re
tired I didn’t know we would begin our
service the way we did tonight but I
think if Paul was here he would tell you
when I was going through that time my
story wasn’t
over cuz I I was ready I thought death
was the next thing but that wasn’t the
end of my story God
delivered there was some more chapters
to be written
wow don’t give up on
God I know you want to sometimes and
there are very few people who don’t go
through this Valley that that there’s
not too many people who don’t go through
this
Valley where it looks like God is
gone job said I looked North and
couldn’t find you said I looked South
and couldn’t find you I looked East and
couldn’t find you I look West and could
not find you but then Joel went on to
say but when you’re finished with me I
will come forth as pure gold
so I want you to tell God in your time
with him this
week how you feel W you be
raw if you’re in this situation this is
not a time for theological
platitudes where you don’t even know
what you’re
saying because you speaking in you know
this this High futin
language now this is time to get
raw thank God God you you killing
me one of the five told me yesterday
they
said if this is God if this is
God this is God trying to teach me or
break me if this is
God he’s killing me
but that was the same one that got the
phone call this afternoon that raised
the
dead don’t give
up know you’re tired I know you’re
hurting I know you’re
crying I know you’re
suffering and I know sometimes he is
hard to
find but
remember when God is
silent he is not
still