Dr. Evans dives into the crucial lesson of aligning our plans with God’s sovereign will. Learn to infuse your plans with spiritual flexibility by embracing the principle of “If the Lord wills,” and explore the profound impact of God’s sovereignty and providence in shaping our lives. Don’t miss this look at navigating life’s uncertainties while staying rooted in God’s unchanging purpose. SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/user/drtonyev… 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…
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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. #tonyevans #tonyevanssermon #Sovereignty
Providence is God automalizing your life
and causing people places things and
thoughts to happen that you weren’t
looking for
but if you’re stuck in your plan
then you may miss his Providence
and you won’t see him audibleizing
things
because he’s inserting things changing
things canceling things reversing things
[Music]
you’ve got this plan you’ve got this
schedule you’ve got this goal nothing
wrong with that
in and of itself except if God is Not
Included
he says because what you need to
understand is that verse 14 you are just
a vapor
you appear here a little while and then
vanish away a paper is a puff of smoke
like cold air coming out of your mouth
on a winter day you see it and then it’s
gone like the steam coming out of the
coffee or tea pot it shows up
and the older you get the more puff you
see
in your life and your pain in the losses
that you see around you
he says nothing wrong with planning in
fact you’re encouraged to plan
but what he says you bed not plan
independently of God
because you and I and we don’t control
the future
not only do we not control it we can’t
even see it
we can only hope for it
he says what you ought to say
verse 15.
is if the Lord Wills we will live and
also do this or that
don’t don’t don’t come out here like you
you gonna control it
you can plan it but you can’t guarantee
it
what you ought to say is imma make my
plan to use a football phrase with my
head on a swivel
hit on a swivel means I’m I’m going I’m
going I’m gonna leave some space
I’m not going to be stiff neck I’m gonna
be able to swivel I’m I gotta have a
little flexibility in my plan unless God
has something else in mind
that I didn’t plan for didn’t expect
because I’m not omniscient I have no
knowledge of the future he says what you
ought to say
is not I’m gonna I’m gonna I’m gonna I
will unless you add to it
unless you put a lip on it
if the Lord Wills
in other words God must be brought in to
planning because life is full of
contingencies
the unexpected the surprise the unknown
you and I we must not cannot should not
plan we should plan
but with our head on a swivel that is
with fluidity built in for the will of
God
because God can shift things on a dime
positive negative it can come in all
kind of ways but he says you ought to
say you know it ought to be something
that you don’t just think it is see see
if the Lord Wills it’s not just the
throw in line it’s a philosophy of life
it’s it’s the way you roll it’s a it’s
an orientation if the Lord Wills I will
do this or that now I plan to do this or
that but my head’s on a swivel
I’ve got some I’ve got some built in for
contingencies
for the unexpected
see the staff tries to get over on me
we’re in budget season and we have to
budget
and they send me their budgets and when
they send me their budgets for me to
review because I got to look at the
whole thing and I gotta see I know a lot
of those numbers are padded
at least one of the staff was was honest
they said well
just in case
you’ve had a little bit for
contingencies
you ought to say if it’s the Lord’s will
you and I cannot be Sovereign over our
lives
now there’s a lot of theology here so
let’s go theological for a while to see
what how this works and how God fits
into the
idiosyncratic elements of our planning
so that we are nuanced properly
to be able to plan with solid
expectations
with our spiritual heads on a swivel
with some contingency built in
for divine intervention
there are two
top truths that you need to know as a
Christian
the number one thing you need to know is
the gospel the good news of the death
and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the
Forgiveness of sins and for the free
gift of eternal life that he freely
gives to all who come and believe in him
for it the good news of the Gospel is
the first thing that you need to embrace
but the second thing
and the critical thing for the rest of
your life my life our lives
is the sovereignty of God
that theological truth of the
sovereignty of God simply means god
rules
God is the ruler controller and
sustainer of all things absolutely
nothing happens in history unless he
makes it happen or gives it permission
to happen
there is nothing that sits outside of
the rule of God
Ephesians 1 11 says God does all things
after the counsel of his own will job
said in job 42 2 that his plan can never
be thwarted
First Chronicles 29 verses 10 to 13 says
God sovereignly rules
nothing happens
in the smallest detail
of which God has not allowed or caused
scripture says that the very hands of
our head are numbered individually
not one Sparrow falls to the ground of
which God is not fully aware
so the sovereignty of God means he is in
control
The Good The Bad and The Ugly
all of it
the devil can’t even be the a good Devil
Without God allowing it
because the Bible says even evil does
not happen apart from the knowledge of
God
he is fully aware
of all things knowable
and all things potential he is the only
one who can answer the question what if
because he knows all potentialities as
well as all actualities
so you need to understand we need to
understand the sovereignty of God the
fact that
he rules over all things and uh nothing
sits outside of him the reason why you
must say if the Lord Wills is because he
can both Rule and overrule he can cancel
and allow he can reverse and Crush
one of the great chapters on the
sovereignty of God is Isaiah 40.
Isaiah 40.
he says when even Nations don’t escape
God he simply blows on them
and he can shift them destroy them raise
them up cancel them
he says You must know that God is ruler
sovereignty of God
but underneath
the doctrine of God’s rulership his
sovereignty
is the doctrine of his Providence
sovereignty that’s the big word he rules
Providence
is the miraculous and uh mysterious way
in which he accomplishes his Sovereign
purpose
sovereignty is what he’s going to
accomplish
Providence
is when he doesn’t want you to see him
accomplishing it
Providence is when he operates incognito
when he doesn’t want to be up front see
sometimes God wants to be up front
and you know it was God it was just he’s
up front
but sometimes
he goes behind the curtain
and his fingerprints are causing things
to happen so you don’t see him but what
you see is what he did
[Applause]
that’s called Providence
and if you don’t believe in sovereignty
you won’t see Providence
if if you don’t believe in sovereignty
then you won’t see God calling audibles
at the line of scrimmage
it’s when the quarterback comes up to
the line of scrimmage they’ve already
called the plan play
they got to play they got in the Huddle
and they they gave a play that had been
previously planned and put on the books
but when the quarterback comes and he
sees a different alignment on the other
side even though he started with a plan
of a play he was going to call he
audibolizes it at the line of scrimmage
and on the spot changes it
in other words he’s doing something
different on the spot than the Plan
called for
Providence is God audible lies in your
life
and causing people places things and
thoughts to happen that you weren’t
looking for
but if you’re stuck in your plan
then you may miss his Providence
and you won’t see him audibleizing
things
because it’s if the Lord Wills
because he’s inserting things changing
things canceling things reversing things
what he is saying is
you don’t you don’t you don’t plan
independently of God
and many of us miss the Providence of
God
no all things work together for good
Romans 8 28 to them who love God and are
called according to his purpose which is
ultimately verse 29 to conform us to His
Image but all things are working
together
to create something
all things you you
you’re baking a cake you’re baking a
cake you know you don’t you don’t eat
the nutmeg you don’t eat the butter you
don’t eat the flour you know you don’t
you don’t eat those independent things
you blend them
and when you blend them and integrate
them and then heat them now you have a
cake because you’ve taken individual
parts and you’ve so wedded them to
produce something meaningful and
tasteful
but if you don’t
know how to blend
then you don’t get the net result of
what you’re looking for
God has a cosmic blender he has a life
blender
and he’s able to take all the nuances of
our life good bad and ugly
and blend them so that we see the
outworking if we love him the problem is
if you don’t love him you may not see
him blending you
[Applause]
so let me go over something I went over
with you if you believe in sovereignty
he rules
and if you understand Providence
that he mysteriously in an interconnects
links
allows or creates negatives he brings
about positives if you if you believe
that that that is the god to whom you
belong
and you say this is my plan this is
where I want to go this is what I want
to be this is what I want to do if the
Lord Wills
I have now inserted the contingency
you know what that means for your life
that means
there’s no longer anything of chance
fate coincidence or happenstance
no such thing
the big word that you must remove from
your vocabulary is luck
you cannot have a sovereign God who
operates in Providence and luck at the
same time you can’t do that
because luck is a random chance
happening
not a divinely orchestrated
intervention
I know I know what we mean we got lucky
dog
we got wish me luck we got plain luck we
got blind luck we got bad luck we got
tough luck we got Lady Luck we got
rotten luck we got good luck we got pot
look we got luck
but you cannot have a sovereign God
who operates providentially he operates
directly but also providentially
that is why you must always keep your
head on a spiritual swivel for divine
surprises
the unexpected
Joseph
he’s thrown in a pit
he sold into slavery
he finally gets a good job he’s accused
of rape
he’s thrown in jail
they forget him in jail
the King has a Nightmare on Elm Street
he needs somebody to interpret his dream
then they remembered as this guy in jail
who’s good at that
after he had been forgotten in jail in
bonds the Bible says
they call him up years later
he interprets a dream
he’s made second in charge of the
kingdom and then he concludes the Book
of Genesis chapter 50 with these words
you saw me into slavery you meant it for
evil
but God meant it oh
God meant it for good wait a minute he
met my negative experience yes he met my
being in jail yes yes because you love
me I even let the negative happen to
bring you to this place
[Applause]