The Alternative

Guest (Male): I don't care how long you've been down in the gutter as a man. How long you've been defeated as a man. Jesus Christ is standing over you today saying, "Get up!"

Guest (Male): Dr. Tony Evans says you've been positioned by God for a special purpose. So it's time to take your stand and being the man and father God has called you to be. This is The Alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.

Guest (Male): Blessings come from God. But not just from God. Today, Dr. Evans touches on the importance of the blessings we pass on and what to do if they were never passed on to us. Let's join him as he begins.

Dr. Tony Evans: In our passage today, we have a son begging for the blessing of his father. Esau is begging for a blessing.

Now, you must strip your mind about the casual use of the word bless. We say, you know, "God bless you," "I bless you." We use the word fairly casually today, many times.

But when Esau was asking daddy to bless him, he wasn't just saying, "Daddy, say, 'I bless you.'" No, the blessing was speaking about something else. It was speaking about the continuity of the covenant. A symbol for the word blessing was covenantal continuity.

It is my hope that every head of a household here has a will. If you do not have a will, you're not operating responsibly. A will simply says, "This is what I want to happen with what I've been entrusted with to pass on to the next generation."

Not having a will is not going to keep you from dying.

Many people say, "Well, I don't like to deal with wills because it reminds me of death." Well, you need to be reminded. It is appointed under man once to die, and after that the judgment. It is irresponsible not to have a plan that you make, rather than a plan that some court makes for you.

So, a will is bequeathing forward that which you have accumulated in your time on earth. You will it forward. A will speaks of an inheritance, usually related to stuff.

All of us as parents should want our children to be better off than we are. The problem is that we only think of better off in terms of stuff. We think of better off in terms of money, or clothes, or housing, or, you know, the other physical features of life. And certainly, inheritances include that. But the blessing in the Bible, while it included stuff, included much more.

Because the blessing included the divine stamp that was placed on the next generation from the previous generation. And in the scripture, you lived and you looked for the blessing.

In our story, Jacob the younger wants the blessing. So he concocts a plan with his mother, Rebecca, to steal the blessing from the older son, Esau. And so, while Esau went out to hunt to get food in order to bring it back to his father, for him to get the blessing, Rebecca told Jacob, "Look, what you do is, you go get me a goat. I'll cook the meal. You go put on your brother's clothes, because your father can't see, it says his eyes were dim. He won't be able to see. You go in there with your brother's clothes, and you bring the meal that your brother's supposed to bring, and let him bless you."

So, he goes, puts on his brother's clothes. He walks in. His father, Isaac says, "Who's that? Who's that? Who's that?" And Jacob says, "No, it's me, it's Esau, your oldest son." He says, "Come close to me." He says, "Now you feel like Esau, but you sound like Jacob." And so he blesses him. I'll talk about that in a moment.

All I want you to get now is how critical the blessing was. He was willing to join partners with his mama against his daddy in order to get it, because this thing involved his future.

Throughout the Bible, God praises Jacob and not Esau, even though Jacob is doing the wrong thing. The question is why? Well, you need chapter 25 to answer that. If you go back a page to chapter 25, verse 27.

When the boys grew up, so they're younger in chapter 25, when the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents. Now, Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for game, because he's the athlete. And Rebecca loved Jacob. When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and was famished. Starving.

So Esau says to Jacob, verse 30, "Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there. For I am famished." Verse 31, Jacob says, "First sell me your birthright." Sell me the rights of the firstborn, and I'll give you some meat.

Esau said, "Behold, I'm about to die." I'm so hungry. "So of what use is a birthright to me if I'm to starve to death?" And Jacob said, "First swear to me that you'll give me your birthright, the rights of the firstborn." So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went on his way. Here it is. Thus, Esau despised his birthright.

Esau thought so little of his birthright, he was willing to give it up for some food. As far as Esau was concerned, stay with me, there was no connection between my birthright and my blessing. My birthright is over here, and my blessing is over there.

But when you read Hebrews chapter 12, verses 16 and 17, it says, "Don't be like the immoral godless Esau, who sold his birthright for food." In other words, the problem with Esau is he was only present-oriented. He only wanted what he wanted now, because he wasn't thinking about the future later. He says, "I'm hungry now, I want some food now, give it to me now, and I'll deal with later when later comes, because I'm starving right now."

One of the problems we have among men is their present-oriented. "I'm not happy now. I don't want the responsibility now. It's all about now." It's not all about now. It is about you passing forward the blessing that is the divine statement of God from you to you and through you, because you are future-oriented. But far too many men are present-oriented. And so, because they do not think beyond themselves, they abandon their families, abandon their children, become irresponsible, refuse to turn around, because they are abandoning the blessing, which is future-oriented. He just wanted food now.

He says, "Father, bless me." Because that's what the father is supposed to do. He's supposed to pass it on. Pass on God to me and all the stuff that goes with that, but pass that on to me. Now, what did the blessing include? In chapter 27, we're told. He says, "Here's the blessing, my son," verse 28 and 29. "May God give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of earth, of the abundance of grain and wine. May people serve you, and nations bow down to you. May you be master of your brethren, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed is he who curses you, and blessed are those who bless you."

God reached all the way back to the Abrahamic covenant. Abraham passed it on to Isaac. Isaac is now passing it on to Jacob, where it should have been passed on to Esau, who turned away his birthright. The blessing was future inheritance from God. Please notice the language: "May God do this, may God do that, may God do this, may God do that." See, that's where the blessing is missing. We're just saying, "I want you to do this, and I want you to do that. Oh, you want to be a doctor, you want to be a lawyer, you want to be an engineer, you want to be a teacher." Nothing wrong with that. But the blessing was what God would do. I want God to do this. I want God to do that. I want God to do the other. I want God. It was about God, God, God, God, God, not just what I want for you or what you want for you, but what God wants for you. That was the blessing. Because it would happen because of God.

Guest (Male): Dr. Evans will return with more of our message in just a moment, including a look at why so many of us are still begging for our blessing. Before we get to that, I want to tell you about a special parenting package that goes hand in hand with what we've been learning this week. The centerpiece is Tony's current two-volume, 13-message series, Parenting on Purpose. Through these messages, you'll learn practical ways to cultivate respect, responsibility, spiritual growth, and strong family relationships rooted in God's truth.

When you make a donation to help support The Urban Alternative, we'll send you this audio collection as our thank-you gift. And as part of this special package, we'll also include Tony's highly acclaimed book, Raising Kingdom Kids. It's a resource that's helped countless parents understand how to raise children who see life through a kingdom lens and develop a faith that stands the test of time. Get all the details at TonyEvans.org or call us at 1-800-800-3222. Again, that's TonyEvans.org or by phone 1-800-800-3222.

I'll repeat that contact information for you after part two of today's message and this.

Guest (Male): Life moves fast, and sometimes the most important thing you can do is slow down. You're invited to join Dr. Tony Evans for a Caribbean cruise designed to help you rest, reflect, and renew. Beginning February 28th, set sail on a seven-day journey round trip from Fort Lauderdale. Visit stunning destinations like Nassau, Grand Turk, Amber Cove, and even a private island in the Bahamas. But this journey is more than scenic beauty. It's a time to reconnect with God and with others. You'll experience life-changing teaching, uplifting worship, and moments of peace that are hard to come by in the middle of everyday life.

Whether it's a quiet morning on deck or a shared moment of praise with fellow believers, every part of this cruise is designed to refresh your body and your soul. Make plans now to step away so you can step back renewed. Visit TonyEvans.org for details and reservations. That's TonyEvans.org.

Dr. Tony Evans: At the heart of the blessing was passing on divine favor. Notice the content of the favor. The content of the favor is that God is going to set things up for you. God is going to go in front of you. And when he does that, you will be master. He says, people will serve you.

Before there was a woman and before there was children, God told Adam to name things. Says, "God brought the animals to Adam, and whatever he named them, that was its name." So when a man is operating under the blessing, and under the covenant, and under the rule of God, he gets to name things, and master things within the sphere of his calling, not anything, within the sphere of what God brings, but God has to bring it. And when you bless the next generation, you're giving God permission to bring it for their good.

Whenever you see a caterpillar, that's got a glorious future. Now I know what you're looking at right now ain't much, but when that thing cocoons, it's going to be pretty and it's going to take flight. We got a generation of children who don't take flight. They're still crawling, because they've never been blessed. They've never had the blessing stand over them to affirm them and to speak God into them. Not just stuff for them, but God into them who will bring them the appropriate stuff. Your will must be more than stuff. My will must be more than stuff. It must be God and the transfer of divine favor.

Now, that's a problem. The problem is, how do you reverse a curse into a blessing? Deuteronomy 25:5 says, "God turns curses into blessings." Perhaps you were raised and you feel like you've been living under a curse as a man. You've been living not under divine favor as a man. God turns curses into blessings.

I love the story of Jabez in First Chronicles chapter 4, verses 9 and 10. And his name means pain. Jabez means pain. He was in pain. Every time you called his name, Jabez, you're hearing the word pain, because that's what it means. He says he was born in pain. So he was living an unblessed life for whatever reason. And then he prayed this prayer, "Lord, bless me indeed." Because even though he didn't have an earthly father to bless him, he had a heavenly Father who could. And he said, "Bless me indeed." You know what he was saying with "indeed"? "I was made for more than this. I was made to be more than this. I was made to live a better life than this. I'm not satisfied with my human name." Pain. He says, "Expand my borders." He was saying to God, "I'm not satisfied." "Give me more capacity. I was made for more than this." "Oh, that you would be with me," he says. "I can't do this without you. It's got to be God-centered. Keep me from evil." Put a restraining order on the devil.

You know the beautiful part about that? It says, "And God answered his prayer." And God answered his prayer. When I was going up in Baltimore, we went duckpin bowling. I don't do much of that anymore. Duckpin bowling is with a small ball, not the big one you put your fingers in. It's a small one. And it was the Lafayette Bowling Alley. So, once a month on Saturday, we would go there. Now things were pretty rickety-dink back in the hood. It wasn't, this wasn't high-class bowling. And a lot of the times the machines didn't fully work. So, so it wasn't sophisticated as it is today. And so pins sometimes, all of them wouldn't get picked up. So some would still be laying down, other times the machine would pick them up and one would drop out of it and fall back down. I told you, this is the neighborhood, all right?

So we went duckpin bowling, but you know what? There was this guy. Now you couldn't see him, all you could see is his feet. And all he went was from lane to lane, picking up pins that the machine couldn't get. So he'd run into this lane, run into that lane, run into this lane. He's picking up stuff that got knocked down that the machine couldn't pick up so the next person could bowl.

I don't care how long you've been knocked down, I know somebody who can pick you back up and set you right again, because he wants you to have the blessing. The forward-moving favor of God commuted to you so you can commute it to yours.

Now, I love all the Rockys, but really love Rocky 5. In Rocky 5, Rocky is retired because he's gotten bruised and beaten. His eye is bad. He can't fight anymore in Rocky 5. He comes across a young, upcoming fighter named Tommy Gunn. And Tommy Gunn has admired Rocky Balboa as he followed his career. And so they meet and become friends, and he says to Rocky Balboa, "Rocky, Italian Stallion, will you, will you train me?"

Rocky says, "Well, yeah, I can stay in the fight game by helping you. So yeah, I'll train you." So Rocky works with him. Tommy Gunn goes up the ladder, up the ladder, up the ladder and becomes the heavyweight champion of the world due to the influence of Rocky Balboa. The movie comes down to the last 15 minutes. The whole movie zeros in on that last 15 minutes. See, Tommy Gunn has now become the champion of the world and has gotten to his head. So he's gotten a lot of money now. He's gotten a lot of attention, a lot of notoriety in the news. So Tommy Gunn is living large, and he doesn't need Rocky anymore. In fact, he gets belligerent with Rocky.

In that last 15 minutes, they're in a gathering and Tommy Gunn hits Rocky Balboa's wife's husband, his brother-in-law. I mean, he clocks him and knocks him down because of some argument they were having. Then Tommy Gunn insults Rocky and insults Rocky's son. Then Tommy Gunn dares Rocky to do anything about it. Rocky tears off his shirt. And the rumble begins. They're out in the street fighting each other. It's a street fight. The problem is Tommy Gunn is too young, too strong and too fast.

And so while Rocky is doing the best he can, he can't keep up with this young guy. And so, it comes down to a punch that Tommy Gunn throws, and he hits Rocky and he sends Rocky down in the gutter, beaten man. While in the gutter, while down and out, Rocky remembers. Upon the screen above his head, it shows what he's thinking. So he thinks back to Rocky 1 and Rocky 2. And he remembers Apollo Creed, and how he fought and became champion of the world. And when he remembered Apollo Creed, he tried to get up, but he couldn't.

Then he remembered Clubber Lang, Rocky 3. And how Clubber Lang had beaten him, but how he fought back to win back the championship, and when he remembered, he tried to get up, but he couldn't. Then he remembered Ivan Drago, and how he went over to Russia and defeated him on his own turf. And he remembered that, and he tried to get up, but he couldn't. But then he remembered somebody else. He remembered his old coach, Mickey. Now Mickey had died in Rocky 4. But Mickey was already dead. But he remembers Mickey. When Mickey was standing over him saying, "Get up! Get up! 'Cause Mickey loves you!"

Now that's when the music came on. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. You know, music comes on and Rocky Balboa, he stands up. He shakes it off. Tommy Gunn is walking off in the distance. Rocky Balboa looks in the distance and says, "Yo, Tommy, one more round!" He found strength he didn't have and power he didn't possess. And he was able to defeat the young buck. Why was he able to defeat him? Because he remembered somebody who had died, who had then come alive again to remind him of what he could do. I don't care how long you've been down in the gutter as a man. How long you've been defeated as a man. Jesus Christ is standing over you today saying, "Get up! Get up! 'Cause Jesus loves you!" So it's time to take your stand and being the man and father God has called you to be.

Guest (Male): Dr. Tony Evans, talking about the power of the blessing that grows out of our connection with Christ. And a lesson he calls Begging for a Blessing. As I mentioned earlier, today's lesson comes from Tony's two-volume series, Parenting on Purpose. This 13-message collection offers practical biblical guidance for anyone who wants to build a stronger family and leave a lasting spiritual legacy. And for a limited time, when you make a donation to the ministry and request the Parenting on Purpose audio collection, we'll also include Tony's popular book, Raising Kingdom Kids. Together, these resources can help you navigate the challenges of parenting with greater wisdom, confidence, and purpose. Make your request today at TonyEvans.org or call our resource center at 1-800-800-3222. Team members are available around the clock to help you. That's 1-800-800-3222 or online at TonyEvans.org.

Now, if you find these messages from Dr. Evans helpful, you'll appreciate hearing him engage in thoughtful discussions with spirit-filled guests on his Unbound podcast. You can find these conversations on his YouTube channel or wherever you stream your favorite podcasts.

You know, the final step of a plumbing repair is to turn on the water to see if anything leaks. On Monday, Dr. Evans points out that God uses the same kind of pressure test to make sure our character holds up when it's challenged. I hope you'll join us for that.