Why Your Breakthrough Is About More Than Just You | Tony Evans Highlight

Dr. Tony Evans emphasizes that God not only responds to heartfelt prayers but often reverses hopeless situations to give new purpose and use you as a blessing to others. 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… 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. #tonyevans #tonyevanssermon #Blessings

see most of the time when we’re in a

terminal situation it’s only about me

myself and I and that’s okay but it

can’t be limited to you when God gives

you a new opportunity he wants you to be

a blessing not just be blessed see the

prayer you need to pray is God I’m in a

terminal situation I need you to reverse

this situation so that not only can my

situation be changed but so that I can

be a conduit to change somebody

else’s has a a cries out to God and says

this is my

report and he’s crying for

mercy God then tells

Isaiah who had gone out into the middle

of the Court the word of the Lord came

to him saying verse 5 return and say to

Hezekiah the leader of my people thus

sayith the Lord God your father I have

heard your prayer and I have seen your

tears no you didn’t

I have heard your

prayers and I have seen your tears so

the first thing is he prayed he gave

something he gave God something to hear

and it included his credit report says

I’ve heard your

prayer but I’ve also seen your

tears I’ve heard what you said prayer

but I’ve also seen how you

feel I’ve heard your word words but I’ve

also read your

heart I’ve heard your

speech but I’ve also

felt the depth of your

pain let me tell you something about God

he’s

emotional now we don’t talk a lot about

the emotions of God but we see it all in

scripture we see where God gets angry

the Bible says the joy of the Lord so he

can get joyful the Bible talks about God

being

pleased or being

pleasured loving the feeling that there

all kinds of statements about God’s

feelings you don’t just want to reach

God’s ears you want to touch God’s

heart cuz he’s a feeling kind of God and

he says I’ve heard your words but I’ve

also felt your pain yeah what the Bible

says about Jesus is he came to

sympathize right with our hurts that’s a

that’s a feeling

thing that’s why when we want to just

throw stuff up to God without trying to

connect with God we want them to hear

our words but not feel our hearts you

know how it is with people when they

talking to us but they ain’t feeling us

they not we we not we not connecting on

this point and they can repeat back what

you said but they don’t feel why you

said it we have that in human reactions

and Dynamics all the

time God just doesn’t want to hear you

he wants to feel you and nothing

enhances a relationship like when what

is said is also what is felt cuz when

the words touch the

heart you got a thing going on then he

said I’ve heard your words and I’ve seen

your tears I I I feel

you what

happen he says I will heal

you on the third day you’re going to go

up to the house of the Lord meaning you

going to get your praise on you cry in

the day but I’m going give you a reason

to shout three days from

now I’m going to heal

you wait a

minute it’s just a couple of verses ago

he said that you going to

die but it was just a couple of verses

ago and by the time Isaiah got halfway

out in the courtyard God watch this now

changed his

mind ooh o did you hear that God changed

his

mind now this puts us in a theological

conundrum we talked about this a little

bit last week but let me just go a

little further today the Bible declares

that God does not change right God says

I am the Lord that changeth

not Jesus is the same yesterday today

and

forever God cannot change he says that

over and over and over again in

scripture but what we just saw God

change he said you will die thus sayith

the Lord couple of minutes later you

will not die thus sayith the Lord so we

went from a terminal situation to a

15-year

reprieve and I was only in the center of

a couple of minutes cuz Isaiah just

walked to the middle of the courtyard

and the only thing that happened between

what God Said the first time and what

God Said the second time was a prayer

full of emotion that’s the only thing

that’s

happened how can a changeless

god his immutability

change God’s characteristics Mercy Grace

uh truth love uh Holiness righteousness

omnipotence omnipresence

omniscience

veracity uh God has character

qualities those character

qualities are

unchangeable he will always be what he

has always

been you and I go through

changes we’re not the same today as we

used to be all right we don’t look the

same we don’t act the same we don’t

smell the same there are changes that

occur in our life over

time God cannot change his essential

nature but he

changed while God cannot change his

nature he can and does change his action

let me say that again God’s nature

cannot change but his actions may

change how

then does God change his action without

changing his nature since his nature

cannot change but his action as in this

case does

change so God changes his

mind and he says you are going to live

you are not going to

die

H he leveraged influence with

God so

then please notice something

else I’m going to deliver You Verse 6

I’m going to give you 15 years

and when I give you 15 years and deliver

you I will deliver this city from the

hand of the king of Assyria and defend

the city for my own sake and for the

sake of my servant

David okay watch

this when you’re in a terminal

situation and God changes his

mind and reverses

something and gives you a new lease on

life whatever that terminal scenario

is it’s not just for

you see it’s not just for you he says

when I give you this 15 years it’s not

just so you can go out and party I’m

giving you this 15 years because I want

to use you to deliver my people from the

attack of the

Assyrians other words I I’m the only

reason I’m turning this around around is

not only to give you life cuz I know

that’s what praying for but I also want

to give you purpose and I want to give

you a new opportunity to do something

for me see most of the time when we’re

in a terminal situation it’s only about

me myself and I and I want God to do

something for me that is in my best

interest and that’s okay but it can’t be

limited to you when God gives you a new

opportunity he wants you to be a

blessing not just be blessed and that’s

a problem with a lot of this blessing

stuff out here today I want to be

blessed I want to be rich I want to have

this I want to have that which in itself

is not a problem unless it’s by itself

unless it only involves you see the

prayer you need to pray is God I’m in a

terminal situation I need to affect

another part of your character I need

you to reverse this situation so that

not only can my situation be changed but

so that I can be a conduit to change

somebody

else’s so if it’s only about you then

you missing God said I got a bigger plan

for you than just you living 15 years I

want to

deliver and I want to

deliver the whole

city from the

Assyrians so then he

tells Isaiah take a cake of figs and he

took them and laid it on the boil and he

recovered okay so he’s dying from an

infection he’s got a boil that’s going

to kill him which means he has an

infection running through his

body God tells the prophet go get a fig

cake put the Fig cake on the boil to

suck out the infection so that he could

live so God gives Isaiah not the

doctor a medical

solution the Hezekiah is the king so he

can get any doctor he wants

but because this was a spiritual issue

and not merely a medical issue God comes

up with a whole another plan to heal him

apart from the plan that the

professionals would use cuz if the

professionals could have used it he

wouldn’t be terminally ill in the first

place God is not against medicine in

fact all the medicine you use is birth

from something God has already made so

so any Doctor Who’s using any medicine

has got to depend on something God has

already made to produce the medicine

that we take for our illnesses it’s

nothing wrong with using medicine it’s

everything wrong with using medicine

without

God see it started with God he got right

with God God said I’m going to hear you

then the medicine worked so he hears a

word from God Isaiah does to help a sick

King he puts the Fig cake on him it

sucks out the

infection and now he’s

healed but oh Hezekiah has a

question he says

this he says what shall be the sign

verse eight that the Lord will heal

me okay now he was just told the Lord

going to heal him

okay but every now and again you need to

see something okay I heard what you said

prophet Isaiah I heard what you said

preacher and I I like kind of believe

it but part of me is from Missouri you

got to show me

[Applause]

something signs in the

Bible were designed to confirm the word

of

God God is not against confirming signs

he is against signs that are not sync

with his word so his word can be

confirmed by a

visual so Isaiah says in the last couple

verses he

says God told me to tell you this will

be the sign and you get to choose do you

want the sun to move forward 10 steps or

do you want the sun to go back 10 steps

translation this is the first Daylight

Saving Times in history

do you want to spring

forward or fall

back God offers him a daylight saving

time he says I’ll speed up the time or

I’ll slow down the time you

choose ezekiah says well speeding up the

time I’m not sure I’m gonna buy that cuz

that one looks too easy that’s what he

says he says let me take the harder one

let’s see you back up the

time now they didn’t have watches and

clocks like we do they had more Sund

dials and ahab’s step was a Sund dial so

as the afternoon went on the sun would

roll up down the steps and it would

expand as the sun got brighter yeah so

when he asked for the sun to go back

he’s asking for a regression of time yes

he’s asking for the sun to do opposite

to what the sun does he says cuz that’s

the harder

thing now here’s the question why did

God give him that sign why I mean he

could have said I’ll just show you a

sign or he could have given but he used

the Sun for the

sign well you remember now that the

issue is Assyria is going to

attack the name of the Assyrian God

is assur

asss that’s the Assyrian God and he’s

the god of the

sun so he gives him a sign tied to the

ministry that he wants him to perform

once he’s healed in other words it’s not

just any old sign it’s a relevant sign

cuz I’m going to show you in the sign I

give you about your healing that the job

I’m getting ready to give you to take

care of the Assyrians I can handle their

God and if I can handle their God cuz

their God is supposed to be the god of

the sun but I’m going to tell their God

what’s going to happen with the sun and

their God’s not going to stop me from

doing with my son what I want done so so

their God is going to know that when I

come up and I show up their God’s not

going to be able to help them against

you when you are healed doing my will

because I’mma beat their God so all this

was tied to a

side and the Bible says Hezekiah said

let it roll back and it rolled back 10

steps time went backwards

God has you for a greater Kingdom

Purpose and he wants to use

you even if he allows a terminal

situation a situation that looks

hopeless so I want to challenge you as

we wind down here’s my

challenge change your credit

report change your credit report cuz

when that time comes you want to be able

to say to God God

look at my credit report I haven’t been

perfect I have failed but Lord I have

picked up and I have decided to

surrender to you to pursue a

relationship with you to love the Lord

my God with all my heart my mind my

might and soul to serve you and to serve

others God I am

yours I am yours and the good thing

about a credit report is that they will

allow you to let it change

they’ll allow bad credit to become

medium credit to become awesome credit

so no matter how bad your credit report

used to be change your credit so that

when terminal day comes you can offer

God something he can respond to

[Music]