Evans - Its Not Too Late

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Verses marked MSG are taken from The Message. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Emphasis in Scripture quotations is added by the author.

Cover by Writely Designed, Buckley, Washington

Cover photo by Jake Gard / Unsplash

Back-cover photo by Don Fuller

Formerly titled Gods Unlikely Path to Success

ITS NOT TOO LATE

Copyright 2012 by Tony Evans

Published by Harvest House Publishers

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

ISBN 978-0-7369-6849-2 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-6850-8 (eBook)

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This book is gratefully dedicated to all those discouraged believers who are looking for a second chance.

I want to thank my good friends at Harvest House PublishersBob Hawkins Jr., LaRae Weikert, and Nick Harrisonfor their belief in this vision and their diligent work in bringing this book to completion.

Contents

O ne of my greatest joys in life is the privilege of being a pastor. Its a responsibility I do not take lightly. As a pastor, I frequently walk with people through their hurts, pains, and disappointments.

Sometimes, in the midst of their pain, people will ask me, Is it too late for me? Is it too late for God to do something with me? Those questions come out of a deep place where people think their many failures have caused them to have forfeited their God-given destiny. When asked that question, I always have one response: No, its not too late. Its never too late for God.

God frequently uses broken people to accomplish His purposes on earth. Time after time in Scripture, we read about broken people whom God raised up in marvelous ways. He used Moses, a murderer, to deliver the Hebrew slaves. He used Jacob, a liar and a trickster, to fulfill His promise to Abraham. He even included Rahab, a harlot, in the messianic family line. If God redeemed their lives, He can redeem your life too.

Brokeness should never keep you bound. Rather, it should release you into a life of freedom. A truly broken person understands the reality of John 15:5, where Jesus says, Apart from Me you can do nothing. A broken person who has learned to depend on God is a force to be reckoned with.

Yet when youre staring at your past, strewn with failure, its difficult to see your bright future, just as its difficult to drive when youre constantly looking in your rearview mirror. When you drive, you need to glance at your rearview mirror, but if you continue to look there, you will end up hurting yourself and the others around you. Thats why the windshield is so much larger than the rearview mirrorthe windshield shows you where youre headed, not where youve been.

Halftime and Hope

If youve ever watched a football game, you know that midway through the game, the teams go to their respective locker rooms for halftime. Halftime is a time for rest and assessment. Its a time to regroupto evaluate how things have been going and to decide what adjustments need to be made for the rest of the game.

The first half of any football game is important, but it is not determinative. Numerous teams over the years were ahead at halftime only to eventually lose the game. And numerous teams were losing at halftime, but by the time the game ended, they had turned things around. Until the final whistle is blown, the game is still up for grabs.

The same is true in life. You might be in your first or second quarter or heading into halftime, but if you are still here, the game of life is not over. Your clock is still ticking. There is plenty of life yet to live. Not only that, but your first half doesnt have to determine the outcome of the game. Maybe youve made mistakes and poor decisions; perhaps youve experienced many disappointments and failures. Maybe life has dealt you a harsh blow here or there. But you are still here. And as long as youre still here, the whistle has not blown and it is not too late for God to take you straight to the plan He has for you. It is not too late for God to lead you into your glorious tomorrow!

See, God looks at your future while the enemy tries to keep you focused on your past. God says, You can in spite of what has been done! But the enemy says, You cant because of what youve done! God will never define you by your past, but the enemy will try to confine you by your past. Whether its the good, the bad, or the ugly that dominates your first half, Satans goal is to keep you chained there. But my charge to you as we go through these pages together is to never let your yesterday keep you from your tomorrow. Learn from yesterdayjust dont live in it.

Once a Hillbilly, Always a Hillbilly?

Do you remember Jed Clampett and The Beverly Hillbillies ? What made that TV show so interesting is that Jed and his family had been delivered from their pasta life of poverty and hillbillydom back in the Ozarksbut even after they moved to Beverly Hills, they continued to live their hillbilly ways. Their location had changed, but their mindset hadnt. The Clampetts past devalued both a valuable present and a valuable future.

The same was true for the Israelites who escaped from 430 years of control by the Egyptians. The Israelites had left Egypt, but Egypt had not left them. As they sent spies into the Promised Land, they stood on the precipice of a glorious tomorrow, but because they chose to focus on the challenges they would face in that Promised Land, they grumbled and complained, wanting to go back to their past instead. At least we had leeks, onions, fish, and plenty to eat in Egypt, they whined, choosing to look at life through their rearview mirror rather than focusing on the promises up ahead.

When God delivered the Israelites from Egypt, He delivered them from their past and into their futureCanaan. Yet because they chose to be so focused on yesterday, they missed their tomorrow. As a result, they had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years so God could disconnect them from their past. Many of us cannot get to our tomorrows because we are still carrying baggage from our past.

The Israelites remained tethered to their past because they failed to do what Hebrews 4:1-2 tells us is essential if we are to enter into the destiny God has for uswe must combine Gods Word with faith.

Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.