Live Free with Josh Howerton - Living A Life on Target • Dr. Tony Evans | Ep. 56 | Monday April 24, 2023

Episode Date: April 24, 2023

If you’re looking for a blueprint for a God-honoring lifestyle, look no further. In today’s episode, Dr. Tony Evans dives into Psalm 128, which gives a great summary of what it looks like to live a life on target. This Scripture-filled episode is just the first of the series and will leave you not only feeling grateful for the presence of God in your life but also eager for more of it. 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, this is Dr. Tony Evans,

and I am so excited to be with you for the Daily Drive with Lake Point Church as we look at Psalm 128 and find out how to live all of life under God. One day, a man was visiting a friend of his who lived on a farm, and he had to pass the barn. And as he was going past the barn, he stopped because he noticed somebody had been using the barn for target practice. There were 20 holes.

There was in the middle of 20 bullseys and the middle of 20 targets. Perfect shooting every time. He got back in his car, went to visit his friend, John. John came to the door. He said, John, I passed your bond. There were 20 targets, 20 bullseyes, a hole in the middle of each bullseye. Who did that shooting?

John said, well, that was me. He said, well, where did you learn to shoot like that? Oh, he says, I shoot first. Then I draw a picture of the target around the hole. So, you see, it's easy to look like you on. target. Really, really, you can look like you're on target when really you only know how to paint. You can paint a picture that looks like all is well. There's a lot of picture painting in our world today of people giving the facade of things going well. But when you look at it closely, it's not that they can shoot, it's that they can surround themselves with the right people, the right environment, the right job, the right church, and they can look like they're living a life on target. The question is what does a life on target look like and how does it function? And so Psalm 128 gives a great summary of a life on target.

It begins with how blessed is everyone who fears the Lord. The fear of God means to take God seriously, as opposed to taking God casually. We live in a world that God is good for invocations and benedictions. as long as he stays out of the stuff in between. We want God in the vicinity. We want him like on the loop, you know, close enough to give you access far enough not to be bothered with. But he says, how blessed. Blessing is divine favor.

Blessing is where God dispenses his goodness to our benefit. Blessings is where God works to us in order to work through us. blessings are never to stop with you. That's why I told Abraham. He says to Abraham, I'm going to bless you and through you, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. So you can't say you're blessed if it stops with you. If you are a cul-de-sac and not a conduit, then you have not finished channeling blessing. Because blessing is always to be a flow-through.

And that blessing is tied to your fear of God. that is you don't take God casually, you take him seriously. My late wife Lois one day asked me to go to Walmart to get some things for her, and I hate anything with Mart in its name. If Mart is in his name, I'm not interested in it. But she had some things to do, so I got up and wanted to be the first one in and the first one out of Walmart. Well, when I arrived, the rest of Dallas had beaten me there.

I mean, the parking lot was full, and I got my goods, stood. this long line, I'm trying to figure out why all these people are here this early. Come to find out, this Walmart was having a store-wide sale. So people have showed up to get their goods that reduce prices. Well, that's what's happened with God these days. Everybody wants God. They just want them on discount. As long as it's God on sale, they'll shop there.

The moment he comes full price, they'll shop elsewhere. That means they don't take God seriously. If you want favor to be dispensed to your life, if you want to see God moving in and through your being and for your well-being and the well-being of others who are in connection with you, well, you're going to have to take God seriously. And how do you do that? Well, we're going to find that of tomorrow when we pick this up as we walk through Psalm 128.

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 is, 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.compt.combe.