The Faith Walk

Jonathan Evans: And you out here living for a bag? You out here living for that legacy? You out here living for 15 minutes of fame? And when you’re gone, they just gon' say next. People in the next city don't even know you exist. Who are you living for? What are you doing this for?

So that you can get 15 minutes of fame? So that they can see your social media stuff and just scroll up in three seconds? That’s what we’re living for? Appreciate you, next! That’s your greatness, huh? No. God was after a kingdom legacy for Abraham. Let me tell you what it looks like, kingdom legacy.

Guest (Male): You’re listening to The Faith Walk with Jonathan Evans. In a moment, Jonathan will continue today’s message. But first, to thank you for your support of this ministry, Jonathan has two gifts for you.

The first is the audio series that you’re currently hearing called All Eyes on Jesus, helping you refocus on the one who changes everything. The second part of this gift is a book by Dr. Tony Evans called The Power of Jesus' Names.

Discover how the names of Jesus reveal his character, his purpose, and his power in your life today. How can knowing him more deeply transform your faith? I’ll tell you more about these later in today’s program. Or you can call right now at 1-800-800-3222 or visit tonyevans.org to learn more. Now, here's Jonathan with part two of his message, It's All About the Son.

Jonathan Evans: My dad and mom were already settled on Indiana. But then at the last minute—come on God—at the last minute when I'm already settled on what I'm going to do, you come in with a different word. And how I know it’s you is because they didn’t just throw it off. They started struggling with it.

As they struggled with it, my dad said, "Okay, well if they’re going to pay for it, why don't I just go ahead and apply?" When they applied, they got accepted. Oh, that made the struggle worse. And now I got accepted, but they got accepted on probation because they applied late.

The professor said, "I still think this is the place." So by faith, they changed from where they were going to where we are now: to Dallas Theological Seminary. While he was at Dallas Theological Seminary, I say "they" because while he was doing the studying, Lois was doing everything else to make it happen.

They started a Bible study. This was just because they loved to teach the word. They just had friends over. They loved to teach the word. Two men were hearing Dr. Evans teach the word, and they kept hearing this kingdom worldview. So they came to him.

He was already settled again that after he finished seminary, he was going to go back to the East Coast to be an evangelist. Tony Evans was not trying to be a pastor. He was trying to be an evangelist, and he was already settled on that idea.

But then while he was doing this Bible study and these two men heard this kingdom worldview, they said, "Dallas needs that kingdom worldview, and we believe that kingdom worldview from Dallas will go beyond Dallas." So they went to him and said, "We think you should start a local church and not go to the East Coast."

He said, "Oh, again? Y'all keep talking to me. I already was settled." But now he's unsettled again. Now him and my mom are talking and dealing with this internal turmoil of do we stay here or do we go to the East Coast and be an evangelist?

My dad was just going to Billy Graham it. He was going to be out there just teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. And while that's a great thing, God had another thing. So now he's dealing with this turmoil and decides, "Okay, I'm just going to by faith, since I'm in Dallas anyway, I'm going to start a church in our house. We're already doing Bible study."

June 6th, 1976, the church started in Dallas, Texas, in a house because of these two men who brought an opposing word from where Dad was already settled. My dad and mom already settled. He started teaching, and people started saying, "I ain't never heard it like this."

It grew out of the house, and they had to go to the Bridegate apartment complex. The Bridegate apartment complex, God began to show that this is what he wanted them to do because it kept expanding and growing. People wanted and were getting hungry for the word.

From the Bridegate apartment complex, then they moved to the Lutheran church right around the corner, right across the street from the YMCA on Hampton. You can drive by it today. That Lutheran church opened up the fellowship hall, then God kept opening his fingers and letting us see the glory of God happening in the church.

It kept expanding from the Lutheran church, and then we went to this elementary school called Adele Turner. They opened up their auditorium and said, "You can have church here." Now, I told you there’s struggles and roadblocks along the way.

At Adele Turner, the church kept growing. People were like, "Man, this teaching, this kingdom worldview that we now know is the Kingdom Agenda, is a whole another ball game." As the church kept growing and expanding, the board of the school said, "We don't want y'all to meet here anymore."

We didn't have anywhere to go. So now we got Pharaoh and the Red Sea, and there ain't nowhere to go. My dad's like, "All I got is a staff. What am I supposed to do? I have nowhere to go." So the elders and my dad and mom prayed that if you’re sending us this way, we need you to bless those who are on our side.

We need you to make a way out of nowhere. This is miracle number one. That board had to vote to kick the church out. They were going to lose the vote because there were two members that if they’re there, the vote goes negative. On the day of the vote, those two members got stuck in traffic.

There was an accident on the road that blocked them from moving at all. So the committee said, "They're not here, we gotta go ahead and vote." So they voted and won the vote to stay at Adele Turner long enough to find the next place.

After the vote, them two members ran in the door. Too late! The vote is already over because when you start going in what God is telling you to do, he will bless those who are on your side, he'll remove those who are not on your side because it's not even about you.

It's his story, and he's not going to mess up his story. But that's not all. Once we got to Adele Turner and we started growing from there, not only did he give us that miracle, we outgrew Adele Turner. So now we gotta figure out where to go anyway.

My dad and mom spotted, along with the elders, an A-frame building that's on this side. It's on our property now. They spotted it, but couldn't afford it. There was a church called Faith Bible who was in that church right here. They decided all of a sudden that they were going to relocate.

My dad said, "Oh, y'all going to relocate? How much for that building?" They said that building's going to cost $200,000. Now back then, $200,000 was like saying $2 million. We didn't have that. We had nothing of the sorts of $2 million. I'm talking about "we" like I was all up in there. I was a kid.

But we didn't have that. So the elders, Tony Evans, Lois, they face another problem to try to figure out we growing out of this, we got to figure out where to go, we don't want to be a membership with no home.

And so my dad goes and talks to a guy privately in his office, and he tells him about the conundrum. They need $200,000, and he's got to figure out how to get that building. He feels like God spoke to him about that building. While he's talking to this guy, another guy passes the door.

And then that guy comes back and stands in the door. Now my dad is sitting right here, and he would tell you he was evangelically ticked off that this guy was intruding on his conversation with this guy. He don't know who this guy is. Then the guy takes another posture and leans against the doorframe.

He says, "Say man, who are you?" Then the guy comes in and sits down in the chair. Security? Who is this dude? Then he starts asking questions about this building that cost $200,000. My dad, feeling some type of way, starts explaining to him what he was trying to tell him.

But I need you to understand that when you go and do what God has called you to do, he will send angels unaware. This guy was asking questions to Tony Evans. Tony Evans didn't even really want to answer his questions because he was trying to talk to this guy.

But God was moving. This guy says, "So how much do you need? And what are you trying to do? And tell me the philosophy." And he broke down the Kingdom Agenda, all of this kind of stuff. This dude took out a check, wrote $200,000, handed it to my dad, and walked out of the door.

My dad has never seen this dude since, because when you go, God will show you where he's taking you and give you the promises of God. We have a testimony of God's faithfulness, miracle after miracle in order to make this thing work.

And then we started over there, and then it kept growing to where you're sitting right now because of the faithfulness of God. But if he does not go... This birthday has a testimony, and God made people uncomfortable all along the way.

I said when I came of age, "Dad, how did you do that? Tell me how you did that." He said, "Go read Hebrews chapter 11 and tell me what you see." I said, "Man, what is this, a spiritual Easter egg hunt? Why you just can't tell me?"

He said, "No, you know how I do it. You go read it for yourself." So I went to Hebrews 11. It says, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen." Verse 4 says by faith, Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain.

Verse 7 says by faith, Noah built that ark. Verse 8 says by faith, Abraham obeyed even though he had no idea where he was going. Verse 11 says by faith, Sarah conceived. Verse 22 says by faith, Isaac blessed Jacob.

Verse 24 says by faith, Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Verse 31 says by faith, Rahab hid those spies. I closed that book. I said, "Dad, I get it. He did it by faith." He said, "Bingo, boy. That's how it works.

It works when the people of God are willing to walk by faith and not by feel." Whether you feel it or not, he's making you uncomfortable and he's telling you to go. I know you're thinking about it, you're feeling it.

You've been thinking about it for weeks, and you've been justifying why you shouldn't do it. Okay. All right. I will not show if you do not go. It's on you. Free will, your choice. You can determine what you do, but you cannot determine what God gives.

Go to a land which I will show you. That's faith. And when you go, I'm going to take care of your legacy. I'll make you a great nation. I'm going to give you a great name. So all of the young people, some of us older, who are trying to make a name for yourself and you out here looking like a fool doing all this stuff on social media, building a legacy of quicksand.

You're wasting your life. All that stuff you putting on, all they do is people look at it and they give you three seconds and then they scroll up. God says, "No, no, no, you don't bless you. I bless you. You don't give you a great name. I give you a great name. You don't position you. I position you."

When I was the chaplain of the Dallas Cowboys—this was like 10 years ago—we're about to go play the Cincinnati Bengals. I walk up the steps to get on the plane. I look around the corner on the plane, and all these big dudes are crying. I'm like, "Uh oh, what happened?"

Jason Garrett grabs my arm—he's the coach of the team—he brings me back down the steps to the tarmac. I was like, "What you finna cut the chaplain? I'm just the chaplain. You can't cut me." I was confused on what was about to happen.

He says, "It's 10:00 a.m. at the time." He said, "Jonathan, at 3:00 a.m. we had a player get in a car accident and pass away. These players are in turmoil because we're on a plane trying to play a football game, and their teammate literally just passed away in a car accident."

He said, "So, I don't know what to do about this man. You're the chaplain. You do it." I said, "Me?" I said, "Tony Evans, how do I handle this? I don't know how to handle this." So I got on the plane, and I said—I was nervous—"Everybody from Jerry Jones to the back of the plane, everybody take a knee."

Because when mortality kicks in, your status goes away. So then we prayed, and I went around and hugged people, just regular ministry, just love on people. We got to the hotel, and I was nervous because I had prepared a message, and you can't do that message now.

It don't connect. It ain't had nothing to do with nothing. So now God put me in a position where I'm just like... You know the feeling standing up in front of a group of people and you don't have any idea. That's not a good feeling.

He said, "But you got to go in there anyway. This is why I've called you." And I said, "But what am I supposed to say?" He said, "Jonathan, man, just give them the gospel. You don't need to come up with all that. Just give them the gospel."

So I went and we just taught the purity of the gospel in light of what happened. Now, a lot of players who never come to chapel came that day, and about 10 of them accepted Christ. It was a great thing. But here's the part that bothered me and gave me perspective that I want you to have.

At game time, we took the field. We took the field, put our toes on the line getting ready for the national anthem. And they said, "Let's give a moment of silence to Jerry Brown Jr." All right, done. It's time to play football!

I said, "What? It's time to play football?" I looked at DeMarcus Ware, who was on the team at the time—he's a Hall of Famer—and I said, "So all that Jerry meant to this team, all that he did in college and the NFL, and you know what we just did? We just gave him 20 seconds of silence."

Then now we're going to play a football game. I said, "So you're going to be in the Hall of Fame. But you know what's going to happen after you're gone? The people are going to give you 20 seconds of silence, and then they're going to move right along.

Or you can go on this field and play for King Jesus because he has an eternity. You gotta pick one." I went to Dez Bryant that same day. I said, "Who was number 88 before you?" He said, "Michael Irvin." I said, "Was he good?" He said, "Jonathan, come on man. He's a Hall of Famer."

I said, "He's a Hall of Famer? That means he was good?" He said, "Yeah, he's a Hall of Famer. Why are you asking me this?" I said, "You mean to tell me that they just unstitched his name off the back of that jersey and stitched your name onto it?"

He said, "Man, I don't like where this conversation's going, bro. I ain't feeling this." Because in this world, just in case you didn't know, they're going to look at you and they're going to say, "Thanks for what you did. Next!"

And you out here living for a bag? You out here living for that legacy? You out here living for 15 minutes of fame? And when you're gone, they just gon' say next. People in the next city don't even know you exist.

Who are you living for? What are you doing this for? So that you can get 15 minutes of fame? So that they can see your social media stuff and just scroll up in three seconds? That's what we're living for? Appreciate you, next!

That's your greatness, huh? No. God was after a kingdom legacy for Abraham. Let me tell you what it looks like, kingdom legacy. Father Abraham had many sons, and many sons had Father Abraham. And I am one of them, and so are you.

So let's just praise the Lord. Arms down. I don't do that part. I'm grown. You mean to tell me after over 5,000 years, we're still singing about Abraham? Well, that seems to be greatness to me. What is this passage really about?

How was Abraham actually great? Let me tell you. In you, Abraham, if you go, I will show and I'll bless you. And in you, Abraham, all the families of the earth will be blessed. How in the world is God making a promise in Genesis about all the families of the earth experiencing a blessing?

Because when Abraham goes, God gives him a promise son named Isaac. Then Isaac has a son named Jacob. Then Jacob has 12 sons that become the 12 tribes of Israel. Then from those 12 tribes comes a little bitty Israelite King from the genealogy of Abraham named Jesus Christ.

And when Jesus Christ comes, he dies not just for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles. And the last time I checked, you're a Gentile. So without Abraham's obedience, you wouldn't be here. Without Abraham's obedience, you wouldn't have experienced the salvation of the Lord.

What God was doing is bringing about the promise of the Son through the obedience of Abraham that would genealogically tie him to the Messiah that would make him great. Therefore, if you want greatness and you ain't connected to Jesus, you missed it.

The whole thing is about Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who would come out of the obedience of a man named Abraham. So, if you want a kingdom legacy, you obey God. And your life is about Jesus Christ.

Whatever gifts, skills, talents he gave you, you go to school and you're giving Jesus. You speak at your job, you're giving Jesus. You're not just doing it from your mouth, you're doing it from your life. You can't have a contradiction in the two.

And you start building a kingdom legacy through the training camp, through the hardship. That's why you were drafted, and God doesn't make mistakes with who he chooses. You're here for a kingdom legacy right where you are. It doesn't need to be on a stage.

The slaves in Matthew 25 that had the five talents and the two talents got the same "well done." It don't have to do with no stage. You don't have to be on camera, and you certainly don't have to be doing a song and dance on social media.

Hopefully, generations from now, people will be able to say so-and-so had many sons and many sons had Father so-and-so, and I'm glad to be one of them. You may not see your impact. That's okay. God will show you later.

Just be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, and know that it will not go in vain.

Guest (Male): That was Pastor Jonathan Evans. Before you go today, I want to remind you that we have a couple of gifts for you: an eight-part audio series, All Eyes on Jesus, and a book, The Power of Jesus' Names.

How could knowing him more deeply transform your faith? Through Dr. Evans' book, The Power of Jesus' Names, you'll discover how the name of Jesus reveals his character, his purpose, and his power in your life today.

We're also including Jonathan Evans' All Eyes on Jesus audio series, helping you refocus on the one who changes everything. Discover how to deepen your faith, stand firm in difficult times, and live with confidence in God's calling.

What could happen if you fixed your eyes on Jesus in every area of your life? Both resources are a gift to you to thank you for your donation to help support the ministry of the Urban Alternative.

It's our way of showing appreciation for the continued support of listeners like you who make this program possible. Call 1-800-800-3222 anytime or get all the details online at tonyevans.org.

Again, that's tonyevans.org, or you can call our 24-hour resource request line at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our team members help you. That's 1-800-800-3222. Thank you for listening to The Faith Walk with Jonathan Evans. The Faith Walk is produced as a part of the Urban Alternative, a ministry of Dr. Tony Evans.