U-Turns - B&H Publishing

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Bestselling author and renowned preacher Tony Evans concludes his series of books about God’s direction over our lives. In U-Turns, Dr. Evans shows readers the reality of human freedom, the consequences that come from negative choices, and the way to reverse those consequences.

By aligning your life choices under God’s Word and pursuing an intimate relationship with Him, you can experience the abundant life Jesus has for you. You get to choose whether or not you want that. If you do, you will see how God can reverse the negative consequences of decisions you’ve made.

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When God created humanity, He gave us a will with a capacity to choose. We all have the freedom to make our own choices. Within God’s sovereign boundaries, He has established a field of play that allows for our decisions. Like a football field that has lines that do not move, teams are allowed to call their own plays within the sovereign lines and boundaries. The plays they call, along with their skillful execution of those plays, by and large determine the outcome of their game.

In creation, God sits sovereignly over our field of play. He has established certain lines that are nonnegotiable. He is King. He sets the boundaries in His realm. Yet within those lines, He has also chosen to give us freedom. He has given us choice. He has created us with the uniquely human characteristic known as free will.

For example, He told Adam and Eve in the garden, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die” (Gen. 2:16–17). Bottom line: God told Adam and Eve that they could choose. He gave them options. He even told them about the consequence if they chose poorly. But then He removed His hands of control on their conscience and allowed them to make the decision. In giving humanity choice, evil became an option. God never forced evil into the human equation; rather, He allowed it.

the author

Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative, former chaplain of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks & Dallas Cowboys, author of over 125 books, booklets, and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Tony Evans was married to Lois, his wife and ministry partner of over fifty years until Lois transitioned to glory in late 2019. They are the proud parents of four, grandparents of thirteen, and great-grandparents of three.

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an excerpt from U-Turns

However, humanity actualizes it when we choose anything that goes against the sovereign and preferred will of God’s rule. You and I have been given freedom. And while that truth delights us, what many often forget is that with freedom comes responsibility. Yes, we have the freedom to choose for God or to choose against God. Yet while we have full ability to make our own choices in this life we’ve been given, we do not get to choose the consequences. Those have been predetermined by God. Just as God told Adam and Eve that if they chose to eat from the forbidden tree, they would “certainly die,” God has consequences established within His rules that will play out if or when we choose against Him.

The freedom to choose is not the freedom to determine the outcomes of those choices. That is a very critical point to understand, because oftentimes when we find ourselves searching for a
U-turn or hoping for a reversal or calling on God to deliver us, we forget that it was our own choices that got us lost to begin with. And when we forget that, we also forget to come before the Lord in a spirit of humility rather than entitlement. Yes, He is a good God. No, He is not obligated to make everything good in your life. Romans 8:28 says that God will work all things together for good to those who love Him and are called to His purposes. It doesn’t say that all things will be, or will feel, good as they happen. You may have picked up this book because you are tired of harvesting bitter and failed crops from wrong choices. You may have grabbed this book because you wanted a solution to your life’s struggles. And if that’s you, then this is the right book. That is my aim in ministering to you through these paragraphs, pages, and points. But what I won’t do is give you a solution softened from the blows of God’s truth. I won’t do that because that is no solution at all. Your U-turn takes place precisely at the signposts of His truth, and nowhere else.