Live Free with Josh Howerton - "Are You Taking God Seriously?" • Dr. Tony Evans | Ep. 57 | Tuesday April 25, 2023

Episode Date: April 25, 2023

When faced with a decision, act on it with a consciousness that God is right there making it with you. Walk in His ways and seek to glorify Him in all that you do. Why? Because God cares for you and wants what’s best for you. In today’s episode, Dr. Tony Evans shares 3 benefits of living in the presence of God and explains the significant impact these will have on you. There is an abundance of wisdom here! For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit.church slash daily drive. In this week's episodes, we will be hearing from our special guest. Dr. Tony Evans. And now, let's dive in to today's devotional. Hello, I'm Dr. Tony Evans, and I'm glad to be here on this beautiful Tuesday

to continue our walk through Psalm 128. It's talking about how to have a life on target, a life that is favored by God. And that life starts with taking God seriously or fearing God. How do you know if you're fearing God? How do you know if you're taking God seriously? Well, it says you walk in his ways in verse one. So you fear God with your feet, not just with your feelings. You feel God with your walk, not just your talk.

You fear God with your life, not just your lips. Your fear of God has to be visible and demonstrable, and it has to do with conforming your decisions to that which is within the will of God based on His Word, and is tied to your walk. No, when I was driving down the road not too long ago, a policeman pulled up beside me, came on the on ramp, and he greatly affected my driving habits. My right leg went north off of the accelerator and left toward the brake.

I kept staring at my speedometer. I certainly wouldn't pass him because I was driving in the light of his presence. The knowledge of his presence affected my driving habits. About three miles down, he peeled off an exited. Well, I went back to my normal driving habits. Why? Because I no longer had to drive with a consciousness of his presence. Well, to fear God means to live in light of his presence.

To make your decision with a consciousness that he is right there alongside you in the decisions you make and the steps that you take. He says, if you will take me seriously, if you will walk in my way, If you will make your decisions based on that which pleases me, glorifies me, then I'm going to give you three benefits. He gives these benefits in verse two. He says, first benefit is you will eat the fruit of your hands. That means you will benefit from your labor.

The fruit of your hands means the benefit of your work. You know, we live in a world where needs have to be met. and fruit had to do in an agrarian environment by what was produced from the ground. So it had to do with the labor and work. But the labor and the work that was put in had to do with what God had provided. In other words, God provided the sunshine. God provided the soil. God provided the rain.

God provided the seeds. So God provided everything. Your labor was to facilitate the provision of God for the benefit of your ability to eat, feed your family, do business so that others could be fed as well. So your productivity is tied to your source, and there's only one source. God is your only source. Everything else is a resource, meaning it's dependent upon what God provides as a mechanism for you to do labor to get the benefit from.

Well, one of the favors of God, one of the blessings for fearing God, is enjoying the fruit of your labor. He didn't just say having the fruit of your labor. He says eating the fruit of your labor. That means you get the benefit from it, okay? And you get to experience it and not just do it. The second benefit, he says, is you will be happy. Now, everybody's looking to be happy today.

Happy has to do with your positive sense of well-being because of how circumstances are going. But happiness can be quick. elusive if it's only circumstantially tied. Because if it's only circumstantially tied, then when things are up, you're going to be up. When things are down, you're going to be down. When things are right, you're going to be right.

When things are wrong, you're going to be wrong, right? Because your circumstances will dictate your well-being. Ah, but when you're experiencing the favor of God, he's dictating your well-being. And so circumstances, while they have a say, don't have the last say if you're being favored by God because you're walking in fear of the Lord. meaning your life is on target. So the first thing he says is the benefit of the fruit of your labor.

The second thing he says is that you will be happy. The third thing he says is it will be well with you. Well with you. Well, that's talking about your future. Okay. It will be well with you. Because everything is not necessarily going like you wanted to go right now. but the beautiful thing of having the favor of God is he goes ahead of you to your tomorrow and he is there to meet you when you arrive there. He is the governor of your future. He says your fortune, your feeling, and your future are in my hands when you're enjoying my favor, blessing. And you're enjoying my favor when I see your fear. You know, if you take some pliers and put it in an electrical socket, not a good idea, okay?

because you're going to get the shock value of illegitimately using that power. But now if you plug, you know, plugs into an outlet from an appliance, well, now things are going to work like that supposed to work because you're benefiting from the power. Well, see, a lot of people who don't want to fear God misuse him, and when they do, they find out that there can be shock value from the deity. But when you're plugged in properly, you find out that there is a source of provision so the lights work and the refrigerator works and the stove works and the

toaster works the electric canova works why because you're plugged in right to the power source god is to be taken seriously but taken seriously doesn't mean to be played with okay so let's take god seriously so that we can continue enjoying favor in our lives thanks for tuning in today for more biblical teaching and worship join us for our Church Online Live Weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.comte.combe.com. Church slash daily drive.