Jonathan Evans speaks about God’s continuing work at the No More Excuses Men’s Conference.
I always appreciate you know you’re my
dad just giving me the opportunity just
being willing to pass the ball to me you
know that means something as a son when
your dad’s willing to pass the ball to
you so I really appreciate that and it’s
just the way he works he works real fast
so he’s moving real fast all the time
and Monday actually it was Tuesday I’m
sitting in the office upstairs Tuesday’s
his big meeting day and he comes into
the office and he’s like hey son men’s
conference on Saturday you’re aware I
said yeah of course I’m aware he said
well you’ve got 20 minutes and then he
closed the door and walked out and I was
like but that’s how dad I’ll do you if
they throw you throw you in that fire
but I appreciate that he’s willing to do
that 2006 I’m with the San Diego
Chargers in training camp and a week
goes by in training camp and after that
week you’ve already been through 16
practices and you’re tired weary beaten
bruised bandaged up at that time a
training camp where you can’t see the
light at the end of the tunnel because
you still have another week before you
play your first preseason game so you’re
hitting the same people and you know you
have another 16 practices before you get
to show off on the field so we’re kind
of down and that’s the point of training
camp where guys started talking about
retirement and the whole deal it’s time
for me to get out of here but we also
had one of the most motivating coaches
of all time and I remember one morning
after a week went by we were in meetings
7 a.m. and training camp you start at 6
a.m. you don’t get back to your room
till about 9:00 p.m. with two practices
and meetings in the middle but I
remember this one early-morning meeting
we were mumbling with each other just
kind of talking and just kind of down
and tired just making it and then the
head coach enters the room all goes
quiet because the elephant has just
into the room he goes by the name of
Marty Schottenheimer one of the greatest
motivating coaches of all time a genius
and this day he came into the meeting
and he just began to pace up and down
for about three minutes he just walked
and he looked and he had a grimace on
his face as to look right through us
just to see what we were thinking he was
just kind of measuring us up and he just
stared any pace then he stared and he
paced and then he began to speak he said
men I did not just cast the net and hope
that the good players that I need would
fall into it to help me win a Super Bowl
this season you have been hand-selected
hand-picked cherry-picked chosen to be
here by none other than myself and I’m
Marty Schottenheimer I don’t make
mistakes with who I choose you have been
chosen for a specific position because
you have a specific skill that I think
will help us win a championship and get
to our destiny in 2006 there’s no better
time than right now here with the San
Diego Chargers but in order to do that
even though I’ve constructed everything
for success you have to maintain the
integrity of the uniform that you wear
if you don’t maintain the integrity of
that uniform it doesn’t matter that I’m
Marty Schottenheimer and I’ve given you
all these coaches and I’ve given you
this playbook for success all is null
and void if you don’t go out on the
field and maintain your uniforms
integrity that’s what you have to do the
time is right now for greatness and
there’s no other time than right now
because I’ve constructed it for your
success now what you need to do is stand
up go to the locker room and put on your
helmet strap on your pads and meet me on
the 50-yard line because the time is
right now I’m feeling that right now
don’t nobody walk on this stage right
now you might get hit
[Applause]
but one of the things that I thought
about years later that’s a speech that
you never forget but one of the things
that I thought about years later is
hasn’t God said the same thing to me he
said I for knew you and predestined you
to be conformed to the image of my son
so that he may be the firstborn of many
brethren those who have been predestined
have also been called those who have
been called have also been justified
those who have been justified have also
been glorified so then what then can you
say of God is for you who can be against
you
and I realized at that moment that I
have been called and you have been
called and your sons have been called to
be great and God called us for a
specific position because he gave each
and everyone one of us a specific skill
for success and he’s God he doesn’t make
mistakes on who he chooses he did not
just cast the net he chose specifically
but we have to maintain the integrity of
the uniform that he gave us if we don’t
maintain the integrity of that uniform
it doesn’t matter that he’s constructed
greatness we won’t see it it says in
Genesis 17 chapter 17 verse 1 God was
talking to Abraham at the age of 99
years old and he told Abraham I want to
see you walk blameless before me and
then I will establish my covenant my
covenant is there I will establish it
but I want to watch you first a lot of
us are waiting on God and God is saying
wait a minute I’m waiting on you I want
to see you maintain the uniforms
integrity first and then we can talk
about moving forward to greatness how
many of us have the uniform of salvation
but we never get on the field of
sanctification moving forward and
becoming all that God has called us to
become and all that he has created us to
be
greatness ensues and the time is now
that sounds good the speech was good
I’ll never forget what Marty said and
the Holy Spirit turned it into something
that spoke into my life but for me
greatness and destiny and all of those
different things sometimes I’m scared of
it and I fear it me personally if I can
be real for a second this very stage
scares me because it’s his stage and I’m
a son and it’s an intimidating thing to
stand on this stage being my dad son
from the outside looking in Tony Evans
in the family the great Kingdom life and
all of that kind of stuff is sometimes
that stuff is scary sometimes I have a
fear that rolls on the inside that I
no was the enemy but I still feel it
because I’m human and that fear isn’t
you know some people have started to
walk to me and tell me hey you know I
feel it in my spirit I’m telling you
you’re going to be the next pastor of
this church and I say what church you
have lost your mind keep that to
yourself
it’s Tony Evans Church to me you know
that comparison is like Michael Jordan’s
son is about to try out for the Bulls
[Music]
that doesn’t quite work it doesn’t quite
work you know some of the things that
make Tony Evans great you know some of
those things I just don’t have as a son
in a scary cuz I watch him every day but
I can’t force myself to have those
things because I’m not him one of those
things is he’s an intellectual he’s mean
he’s up here go check his library out
you’ll fall out he reads a book a week
non-stop a book a week from cover to
cover next book he’s read most of the
books that are in his library I read two
pages in my eyes are watering
I don’t have that I’m not a formal
learner he’s in meetings all day making
something out of nothing on Tuesdays
he’s four he’s in meetings from 9:00
a.m. to 9:00 p.m. all day just meeting
with people staying attentive going and
going and going and going and going I’m
in a meeting five minutes and I’m
thinking about Puff the Magic Dragon I
just don’t have some of those same
things that made him great but the word
of the Lord stays the same for me too
and that that’s what I have to believe
through my fear that the word of the
Lord stays the same for every individual
in this room to Sprite despite your fear
in your past and all those other things
that you may be dealing with the word of
the Lord is for you too and it’s
something that we have to believe every
day I just keep putting one foot out in
front of the other and when I look down
sometimes all I see is an abyss I don’t
know what this foot is going to land on
but because I’m trying to walk in his
will it just seems like the Lord slides
something solid for me to land on it’s
called walking by faith the assurance of
things hoped for and the conviction of
things not seen even through my fear you
know sometimes God will allow you to
walk on the very things that hold you in
bondage to get to your destiny and
that’s what I’m learning right now in my
life as a son as a 30 year old who’s
still trying to figure it out and trying
to stand on his word knowing his word
because you were fed it every night for
dinner
but truly being able to apply the word
in spite of your feelings we’re going to
leave here today is Kingdom men feeling
it and ready to apply it but you know
the time has come for you to apply it
when you feel like not applying it
that’s the time when the game has begun
one of my favorite movies is x-men
one of my favorite characters in x-men
is a character by the name of magneto I
like villains he could take metal and
manipulate it and do whatever he wants
with it but in this one movie he was in
a jail cell that was hovering over
nothingness because he can float and do
all these other things and so they had
him in a jail cell that was hovering
over a deep dark abyss and then a
hundred yards from the jail cell was the
mainland when one of his colleagues came
to save him and tried to break him out
and all of those different things and he
was able to open the door but then he
looked down and realized that if he took
another step he was going to fall but he
saw his destination which was the
mainland so what he did was take iron
from the jail that was holding him
captive and putting it underneath his
feet and he would step on it and he
would take more iron and step on it and
take more iron and Stefan it until he
got to his destiny he was using the very
thing that held him captive to get to
his destination and sometimes with our
fear sometimes with our past sometimes
without having a father sometimes
without having a blueprint if we just
believe the word and start applying that
God can put those very things that are
holding us in our jail sail underneath
our feet so that we can walk towards our
destination and these are just personal
things these are just things that I’m
learning as I read the Bible and the
Holy Spirit draw stuff off the page for
me as I just walked this walk in my
personal life in Genesis 18:19 the Lord
is talking to Abraham and he said you
have been chosen to lead your family
after me so that I can fulfill my
promise what was the promise to Abraham
I’m going to make a great nation well
that comes through a family so he’s
telling Abraham to
leave your family after me so that I can
do what I said I was going to do but you
have to start by leading your family one
of the things that’s great that God has
blessed me with is a father that leads
his family we sit around the table every
single night every single night we sat
around that table and he would just feed
us a plate of wisdom and even though we
were missing the Cosby Show because of
that plate of wisdom I realized now that
I’m older how much that means to have a
dad that sits with his sons and
daughters and he gives him what he
learned from his dad you see I don’t see
to daddy a lot we call him to daddy my
dad’s dead I don’t see to daddy a lot
but my mind is just like his because to
dad had created a disciple and my dad
created a disciple and now I hold that
baton tight so that I can hand it to my
son
what – daddy had to do was pick it up
off the ground though because he was the
first his father was around but he
wasn’t saved he got saved at the end of
his life so my dad grew up in a
non-christian home two guys that I never
met witness to – daddy that I’ll never
see I don’t know if they’re here I don’t
know if they’re they’re not alive
anymore I don’t know where they are but
those two guys that I never knew and
never will know those Kingdom men that
witness to my father I wish they could
see what doing one thing that God tells
you to do how that can change the course
of generations
and now to that is getting older 83
years old it’s hard for me to see him
walk with a cane now and not good around
the same as I’ve always been able to see
and now you know what hurts me they they
talked to they talked to me just
yesterday in a meeting and they said as
I watched that and then watch my father
they said Jonathan what is the the most
exciting thing for you right now as it
relates to working with your father and
ministry I said I feel sorry for my
siblings because I get to spend more
time with them than they do
I love being by his side in eating off
his plate I love it and I’m glad that I
had the opportunity to do it and then
they said what is the worst thing about
working with your father in ministry I
said I really don’t like it when he says
son this is my last third of ministry
I’m 62 years old now and at some point
it has to come to a close
and then that’s when the Holy Spirit
told me it’s not coming to a close
because you bear his name and you’re
just getting started
[Applause]
those who he foreknew he also
predestined to be conformed into the
image of his son so that he may be the
firstborn of many brethren those that he
predestined he also called those that he
called he also justified and those that
he justified he also glorified
so what then can you say if God is for
you who can be against you
[Applause]
is what beast