Skip to content Detours of Provision Oct 14 · 40 min ...more
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Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies.
665K followers
0:01 The world has mourned the death of a unique man named Nelson Mandela. We're mourning the death of0:13 a man who whose life was detoured. Who would have thought that he would go from0:25 prisoner to presidency. They would be detoured for 27 years in a prison because he was0:37 insisting on seeing a people set free from the evil system of apartheid. And so for 270:48 years, he languished in a number of prisons in South Africa, insisting1:01 that if the people couldn't be free, he didn't wanna be free. He went on to say that the essence of freedom is when you get it,1:13 then you're involved in freeing others. And so his name will live now. He's 1 of the great men of history1:25 because he allowed his destiny to be a place of deliverance for folks other than himself.1:38 As another young man that was in prison, His name was Joseph. Unjustly prisoned. Who would have1:50 thought that Joseph the prisoner would become prince in the palace of Egypt? Who would have thought that this young man2:01 who was forgotten as a slave boy would be elevated to be the second in command in Egypt. You see, what2:13 we've tried to explain is that on your way to your destiny, there will be detours. There will be places you didn't plan to go,2:25 people you never planned to meet, situations you never thought you would be in, even mistakes you never thought you'd make, predicaments2:37 that you never thought would be your problem, and it would all be allowed by a sovereign providential God. As2:51 long as you and I choose to live with a small God, the circumstances of life will dictate to us. But the moment you3:03 expand the meaning of God to this all encompassing sovereign person where nothing gets to you unless it passes through his fingers first.3:16 Then all of a sudden, you may not like the prison, the pit, the problem, the predicaments that you're in, but because you've3:28 attached them to God's sovereign plan, because you understand there is a blueprint in heaven with your name on it. And it is all designed3:39 to bring you to your destiny. Every believer, every Christian has a divine design for3:51 your life. It may be a little foggy right now, may be a little clear. It may not have been totally manifested for any number of reasons.4:03 But nevertheless, you have 1 and don't leave earth without it. Rarely, let's state it again.4:15 Rarely does God take you from where you are to where he wants you to be in a straight line. You never just go4:28 from a to z through b and c and d and e and f. You go from a to r to c to4:40 u to s to q to v. God bounces you around. Why?4:53 Why on your route to your divinely designed purpose for being, your destiny, does God bounce you around all over the place? Sometimes good, sometimes bad,5:04 sometimes ugly. Number 1 is to develop your character. He wants to make you a better person, and he never does5:16 that without test. Tests are adverse circumstances that God causes or allows in order to develop us spiritually. It's a5:28 test, and nobody gets away from them. You say, how long do I have to be in this test? Till you pass. Because God believes in5:40 retesting. There is a second reason for the detours, and it is the reason of our message today. That God5:52 allows detours on his road to destiny in order to prepare those who he6:04 wants you to impact when you arrive at your destiny. Let me say it another way. Destiny6:15 always involves you benefiting others beyond yourself. Let me say that again. Your destiny isn't only about you.6:27 So if it's all about you and nobody but you, and the only 3 people on planet earth is me, myself, and I, you've6:39 not yet arrived at your destiny. Or even if you've arrived at it, you won't know it. Because your destiny is never only about you.6:51 Look at chapter 15 of Genesis. The summary chapter we've used for this whole series. He says in verse7:03 19, but Joseph said to them, do not be afraid for I am in God's place. As for you, you meant it for evil against me,7:15 but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, watch this, to preserve many people alive. So therefore, do not be afraid,7:27 I will provide. There's our word. I will provide for you and your little ones. So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. He said, God brought me here to7:39 provide for you. Because your destiny is never only about you. He is carrying you to your destiny7:51 for you not only to be blessed, but for you to be a blessing. We've explained many times the definition of a blessing. Because most8:03 people or far too many people are only getting half the definition. They want God to do something for them, not necessarily to do something through them. A blessing is8:14 experiencing, enjoying, and extending the goodness of God in your life. So if your blessing starts with you, it won't be that long. Because God is8:26 looking for conduits, not just cul de sacs. Places he can work through, not just people he can come to. In the8:37 Olympics, these athletes have risen to a level of status because of their athletic ability. When the8:49 gold medalist wins the gold medal, he is individually recognized for his accomplishments. He gets a gold medal around his neck because of individual9:02 achievement. But then when it comes time to play the song, they do not ask him, what's your favorite song? We wanna play your favorite9:14 from your your iTunes hit list. They don't ask him his favorite song. They play the national anthem of the country that he belongs to. Because9:25 even though he reached an individual level of achievement, he belongs to something much bigger than himself. He's representing the nation of which he is a9:37 part. Your destiny involves you and the gifting, the calling, the purposes God has given you. But he wants you to understand it's not only about9:49 you because you're citizens of another country, of another kingdom, if you will. You represent another king, and he wants his anthem played.10:01 He wants you to know you're part of something bigger. I hope you know it's hard to find full service stations anymore. You're looking for a full service station, they they kinda talk10:13 about everything's self-service these days. It's hard to find full service Christians these days. Everybody's self-service. Now don't get me10:24 wrong. I I'm not hating. I I I know that you want God to do something to you, for you, in you. You want God to to bless you in a certain way. You want him to change something in your life,10:36 better something in your life, improve something in your life, reverse something in your life. I know you need God for you, but your destiny cannot only be for10:48 you. He says, God brought me to this place to provide for you. In other words, he had somebody else in mind when he was bringing11:00 me my destiny. So here's how it works. There are 2 reasons why you can delay your destiny where11:12 God wants to take you. 1 reason is you have not passed the test. You keep failing the test so God can't move you to the new grade because you haven't passed the test from the11:23 previous grade. So you keep failing the test, so he has to keep retesting. So that can delay your destiny. Or you're so selfish, I'm so selfish, we're so11:35 self centered that he can't use us for the benefit of somebody other than us. And if he can't work through you, because you only want him him to work to you,11:47 that can delay the arrival of your destiny. James chapter 1 says, true religion manifests11:59 itself in ministry to others. Now, you have to12:10 understand God is always doing more than 1 thing at a time that involves you. It involves you, but because12:22 it's not only about you, he's manipulating different things in different places at different times until it's time for the hookup. He's doing something over here12:34 that you don't know anything about. All you know is what you're dealing with right now. Turn to chapter 41. Let's back up and come forward again.12:49 In chapter 41 let's back up to chapter 40 verse 23. Remember, in the Bible there were no chapters written. We added chapters in order to be able to find things quickly. So you13:01 can kind of just read straight through, particularly the stories in the Bible. The verse 23 of chapter 40 says, yet the chief cup bearer did not remember Joseph but forgot him.13:14 Here, Joseph is in prison. He interprets the cup bearer's dream. He tells the cup bearer, remember me to Pharaoh, and the cupbearer forgets him. Have you ever been in a situation where it looked like God was13:26 answering your prayer and the reverse happened? You thought you had an answer, and the exact opposite to the answer occurred, and you wanna know God why you wanna do me like this.13:39 Okay. Watch this. When God disappoints you, it's on purpose. I hate to tell you that. I hate to tell me that. When God disappoints you, he13:50 disappoints you on purpose. It says the cup bearer forgot him after he had saved the cup bearer's life through interpreting his dream. How14:02 long was he forgotten? Because he's in prison. Oh, by the way, he's not only in prison, it says he's in the dungeon. The dungeon was the the hole underneath the prison.14:14 So he not at the bottom, he's beneath the bottom in a dark, dirty, decrepit location called the dungeon, and he's there for having done nothing wrong.14:27 So he's an innocent person in a bad situation that God allowed. You may be asking the question, I don't know why God allowed this. It's not fair. It's14:39 not right. It's taking too long. That's his situation. Verse 1 of chapter 41. Now it came about at the end of 2 full years that Pharaoh had a14:51 dream, and behold, he was standing by the Nile. So you I won't go into all the details, but Pharaoh has a nightmare on Elm Street. He's got this dream that literally terrorizes15:02 him, and he can't understand it. So Pharaoh calls the professionals to interpret the dream. Verse 8. Now in the morning, his spirit was troubled. So he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt15:14 and all the wise men, and Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was not 1 who could interpret them to Pharaoh. Okay? Stick with me now. Joseph is languishing in a15:26 prison, in the lowest part of the prison called the dungeon. Pharaoh, who doesn't even know who Joseph is, has a dream that keeps him up all15:38 night and troubles him, and he calls the paid professionals to help him figure out his nightmare. The paid professionals can't figure out his nightmare.15:49 Joseph doesn't know Pharaoh. Pharaoh doesn't know Joseph. The cup bearer knows them both. Because the cup bearer was imprisoned with Joseph, and he worked for16:01 Pharaoh. What happened? Verse 9. Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh saying, I would make mention today of my own offense. Pharaoh was furious16:13 for his servants. He put me in confinement in the house of the captain, the bodyguard, both me and the chief baker. We had a dream the same night. He and I, each 1 of us, dreamt according to an interpretation of his own16:24 dream. Verse 12, now a Hebrew youth was there. A servant of the captain, the bodyguard, and we related to him, and he interpreted our dreams. To each 1, he16:35 interpreted according to his own dream. And just as he interpreted for us, so it happened. He restored me to my office, but he hanged him. All of a sudden, the cup bearer's memory16:47 comes back. Ting. Wait a minute, Pharaoh. You had a dream you couldn't interpret. It scared you to death. 2 years ago, I had a dream. Scared me to death. And that was this Jewish16:59 kid in jail who interpreted my dream, and it came about just as it happened. When does the cup bearer remember Joseph? Because remember, we read he forgot him.17:11 He remembered it when it was God's time for a hookup to occur. God created a nightmare over here while Joseph is in prison over there,17:24 and he doesn't allow the negative event of Joseph to change until the nightmare occurs over here, and he brings to remember see, God knows how to bring stuff back up in17:36 people's mind. He brings it back to the cup bearer's mind about Joseph, and watch this because I wanna make a big 0.1 big 0.1 big point. It says, verse 14, then the pharaoh sent17:48 and called for Joseph, and they hurriedly brought him out of the dungeon where he had shaved himself, changed his clothes, and came to pharaoh. Now here's what I want you to know.18:00 Don't want you to miss this. Joseph had absolutely no idea about the dream, had never met Pharaoh.18:12 He didn't know what's going on. He's in a hole all by himself. But in less than 24 hours, his world changes.18:24 In 24 hours, he's released from prison. In 24 hours, he's given a shave. In 24 hours,18:35 he gets his clothes changed. He gets brand new clothes. Let me show you what else happened in 24 hours, because I'm going somewhere with this. 41, chapter 41, after he interprets the18:47 king's dream, verse 41 of chapter 41, Pharaoh said to Joseph, see, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring18:59 from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck. It says, and then he he rode him19:11 on the second chariot, verse 43, and they proclaimed before him, bow the knee, and he set him over all the land of Egypt. All this happened in 24 hours.19:24 Okay. Let's review. Because I see some of you saying, where where are you going with this? Where are going with this? I'm going somewhere. He's in jail. He's forgotten in jail. He's in the lowest part19:36 of jail. He's at the bottom. He doesn't know Pharaoh. He doesn't know about the dream. He doesn't know about anything. All he knows is that the cop there who I helped forgot me. All of a sudden,19:48 somebody comes opening the cell door, says, here's a Gillette razor, shave. Here's some nice clothes, change, take a bath. You're going20:00 before him because we need your gifting. We need what God has given you because the professionals can't do it. So he took his his gift that he20:12 only got to use in jail. He took the gift that he used in jail, and now he's using it at the White House. He interprets Pharaoh's20:24 dream. And what does Pharaoh do? Give him a signet ring, puts a gold chain around his neck, gives him his own wardrobe, gives him his own limousine20:35 service, a chariot, makes him second in command, and now everybody in Egypt is bowing their knee to Joseph. This is in20:47 24 hours. Now why am I telling you that? I'm telling you to let you know that when God is ready to move, it don't take long.20:59 When he's ready to change your situation, he can do it suddenly, immediately, out of nowhere. Where that come from? Wow.21:11 Bam. Boom. That God could come so don't get upset that you don't see anything because you're a dark dungeon. Because God is doing something over21:23 here that you don't know the first thing about until it's time for God to create a hookup. Now because because see, that's not the point21:35 of the sermon. But see, y'all like that part of the sermon. Because see, Joseph got bling now.21:47 Joseph is the man now. Joseph is living large now. Joseph has been blessed with stuff, having used21:59 his gifting, and now he is out of the pit and in the palace. The problem today is most people are satisfied with that definition of22:11 blessing. I got more stuff, better job, more money, better car, nicer clothes, nicer house. Remember, your blessing includes you, but it's not only22:23 about you. Look at chapter 45. The story continues. He's now with his brothers, and here's what he says to his brothers who are22:35 who've been now faced with Joseph, who's now over them. Verse 5 of chapter 45. Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for22:46 God sent me before you to preserve your life. Watch this now. You sold, and while you were selling, God was sending.22:57 You see that? You were selling me, and God was sending me. You thought you were getting rid of me, and God was preparing to use me. You thought you were messing over me, and all you were23:09 doing were blessing me. If they would've known that their brother was gonna wind up being their provider, they would have never sold them. But God23:21 let them sell them so that God could send them in order to preserve them. He says, God did this to preserve life. Verse 6,23:33 for the famine has been in the land these 2 years, and there are still 5 years in which there will neither be plowing or harvesting. Here it is. God sent me before you to23:45 preserve you a remnant in the earth and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. And he goes on to say in verse 11, there I will provide for you,23:57 for there are still 5 years of famine to come, and you and your household and all you have would have been impoverished. Guess what the man says? He said, he didn't just send me here to live in a24:09 bigger house. He sent me here to preserve you. He sent me here to benefit somebody other than myself. So here it is. When God blesses you24:21 spiritually, that's the most important blessing. When he blesses you materially, when he blesses you circumstantially, when he blesses you influential, he changes your status in life, and he24:32 removes you from that negative situation, keep your eye open for the blessing he wants you to be. Not that's the blessing that you have. Because the24:44 shortest way to cut short your destiny is to only be thinking about you and not the reason that God blessed you, which is always to be a blessing to24:55 somebody beyond you. Beyond you. The crisis of pharaoh, the crisis in the culture and by the way, Egypt is not a Christian25:07 nation. Pharaoh is not a Christian man. He is a believer in a secular world, in a secular society. So all of you who are25:19 working for non Christians, you're working for pagans, people who don't know God, God knows how to send nightmares. God knows how to create opportunities in a secular25:30 environment. To stand for God, that was the key to Joseph's life. He didn't apologize for his faith just because he was in a secular environment. See? He25:42 didn't he didn't hide his Christianity in order to be accepted by Pharaoh. Because we got too many secret agent Christians, and God can't use you if you're gonna hide his25:54 name, if you're gonna hide the association with him. And so now it's opened up. Now this opportunity to be a blessing has has been26:06 exposed. I began to do some research. And as I looked through the scriptures, it became clear to me that this was indeed the pattern.26:19 God would take person on detours, positive and negatives. He would then do something in their life that turned their situation around, and then he26:31 would use them to benefit folks outside of themselves. God told Abraham. Genesis chapter 12, he said, Abraham, I want you to leave26:43 the land of your parents, and I want you to go to a land that I will show you, but I'm not gonna tell you about it in advance. I just want you to walk by faith. Now if you follow Abraham's26:55 life, he goes through 25 years of detours. 25 years of good, bad, and ugly. And some of the ugly was real ugly. He goes through27:07 25 years of detour before God and he are ready to come through, before God has set things up where he has grown up enough and responsive enough for God to do what he's gonna do. And then27:18 God said to Abraham, and when I bless you through you, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. He says, a I got a big plan for you, but you're not ready for it yet.27:31 It's gonna take you 25 years for you to be ready for what I wanna do with your life. But when you come around and grow up and begin to respond to me like I want you to respond, I'm a work through you. And when I do my27:42 thing through you, it's gonna blow your mind because it's gonna touch the whole world. God's got a world for you to touch. Let me show you another 1. I want you to turn to this 1,27:54 Exodus chapter 2. Because this is a pattern through scripture. Remember, there are no chapter divisions when the bible was written. We added chapters in order to find places quickly. Verse 2328:06 of of Exodus 2, it came about in the course of those days that the king of Egypt died, and the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out, and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to28:17 God. So God heard their groanings, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God saw the sons of Israel and took notice of them. Pause. Israel is crying out. Israel is in28:29 Egypt. Israel got in Egypt because of Joseph. Joseph brought his brothers to Egypt. He provided them in Egypt. They kept expanding. So Israel became a nation in Egypt, But now, they're under bondage in Egypt. They28:41 cry to God, and they say, God, deliver us, deliver us, deliver us. God says, I hear you, I hear you, I hear you. K? Deliver me, I hear you. Now28:53 remove the chapter 3, and let's keep reading. Now Moses was pastoring the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law. Wait a minute. We just left all the children of Israel in Egypt crying out for deliverance.29:05 God hears them, and now we jump to Moses. Or did we? Because he says, the priest of Midian, he was leading the flock. So all this man is is a shepherd man. The angel of the Lord appears to him, verse29:17 2, in a blazing fire in the midst of the bush. He looks, behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet it was not consumed. Moses said, I gotta turn around and see what's going on here. When the Lord saw, verse 4, that29:28 Moses turned aside to look, God spoke to him, Moses, Moses. He said, here I am. He said, don't come near near here. Remove your sandals. He said, verse 6, I am the God of Abraham,29:39 Isaac, and Jacob. Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. The Lord said, I have surely seen, watch this, the affliction of my people, we read that in chapter 2, of my people who are in Egypt and29:51 have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their suffering. So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them up to a land flowing with30:03 milk and honey. Verse 10. Therefore now, come now, I will send you to Pharaoh so that you may bring my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt. Anybody know where I'm going?30:15 God, here's Israel over here. Okay. Y'all need deliverance. I'll be right back. He runs over here. Okay, Moses. I've been training you for 40 years how to lead sheep. The30:26 reason it took me 40 years to train you is you messed up 40 years ago, which got you kicked out into this wilderness because I had to teach you not to move when I'm not ready for you to move. Well, Moses,30:38 hold on right now. I'll be right back. Israel, I hear you. I hear you. Keep praying. Keep praying. I know you don't think I'm hearing you, but keep praying because I'll be right back. Moses, I got a bush burning here. I30:50 need you to turn aside and look at the bush that's burning, that's not being consumed because guess what? Over there, they're calling for me. I need a leader, but I need a humble leader who knows how to trust in me. So31:02 for the last 40 years, I have you taken care of sheep because you need to learn how to lead dumb people. So I let you learn to lead dumb sheep. And now that the31:14 sheep are called me over here and you've learned to lead sheep over there, come with me. I'm a lead you over here and connect you with these folk over there so you can tell Pharaoh, let my people31:26 go. In other words,31:38 God is always hooking stuff up. You just can't see it. You just don't know what's happening. You all you see is your situation. You remember Esther?31:51 Pretty girl. Shining star, Esther. Her name means star. Esther Esther's a pretty girl and she's in in the king's palace32:03 and she goes from a raggedy little Jewish girl to queen. She's she's queen now. Queen Esther. Mordecai32:14 says, this guy Haman is trying to kill all the Jewish people. You need to go tell your husband, the king, what's going on so we can be delivered. Esther said, wait a minute.32:27 Hey, you messing with my lifestyle. You messing with my clothes. You messing with my car. You messing with my servants. In fact, you could be messing with my life. So y'all y'all32:38 I got mine. Y'all get yours. I you know, you know, I can't mess with this. Mordecai says, star. So s means star. Star,32:50 let me explain something. If you don't do this, deliverance will come from another place. Because God ain't ain't limited to you. You you you that, but33:02 you ain't All. All that. Uh-huh. Some of you been there and done that. I hear you. And you you you that, sister girl, but you ain't all that. Alright? Okay?33:14 Deliverance will arise from another place, but you have missed the point of you being here. You think you're here just because you're cute.33:27 No. No. No. No. No. You are called to the kingdom for such a time as this to bring deliverance to your people, not just to look pretty in the palace. God33:39 doesn't mind you looking pretty in the palace. He just minds you getting so so tied to the palace that you missed the purpose That you don't see. He wants to give you your destiny so that you can33:51 be a preserver, a provider, and a deliverer. How would a little boy know that giving Jesus sardines and crackers would give a Moby Dick sandwich34:03 to 25000 people? Because when your destiny is given to Jesus's hands, he's not only gonna use it to fill you up, he's gonna use it so you can be a blessing to others.34:16 How would the widow of Zarephath know that when she followed God's destiny regarding Elijah, she would be able to retire on what God would provide her? Because when you are a34:27 blessing that God can work through, he doesn't mind working too. How would Martin Luther King have known? That as a pastor in Atlanta, there would be a lady in Montgomery34:40 named Rosa Parks who would refuse to give up a bus seat that would start a bus boycott where people would call on him from Atlanta to leave the boycott, that34:52 would uproot and give birth to a civil rights movement, that would give us freedoms today that were never known in the Jim Crow South that would lead him to speak on the35:03 Washington Monument and give the greatest speech of a generation about a dream. How did he know that God would take him and a lady he never met, hook the 235:15 up, and change the destiny of a whole group of people in the United States of America? Because God is always hooking stuff up.35:28 Stuff you don't even know about. So don't be satisfied to be blessed alone because your destiny becomes35:38 realized when you decide to be a blessing as well. His name was Thomas Anderson.35:51 He was a computer programmer and part time computer hacker. 1 day, pop up on his computer screen36:03 simply said, follow the rabbit. And he follows the rabbit to a club where he meets a lady named Trinity. Trinity36:15 whispers in his ear, do you wanna find out about the matrix? The matrix36:27 was a computer generated reality behind the world in which he lived. She says, follow me. And36:38 there's this guy named mister Smith. And mister Smith has 1 job, and that is keeping Thomas Anderson from following36:50 Morpheus. Mister Smith tracks him. Morpheus said, listen, if you wanna if you wanna get to know this thing, you gotta follow my lead, because mister Smith wants to destroy you. He37:02 wants to stop you from reaching what you were created to be. He finally gets transferred to this realm behind the realm he knows, and he meets37:13 Morpheus. And Morpheus says, we've been looking for you. We've been looking for you. Neo,37:26 I have 2 pills. In 1 hand, there's a blue pill. You take this blue pill, and you'll wake up in your37:38 bed, and this will all be a dream, And we'll forget it all happened. There are some folks here today who are gonna be satisfied with the blue pill.37:49 You came to church, you're gonna take the pill, and you'll forget you were here. You won't remember this sermon next38:01 week. It'll just all disappear. But in this hand is a red pill. Neo, if you take this red38:13 pill, you will discover powers you didn't know you had.38:26 You'll take this red pill. Your mind will expand like you never imagined. In fact, Neo, if you take this red pill,38:39 you'll find out how deep this rabbit hole goes. You choose. You got 2 pills today.38:53 You can go back home to your plain old ordinary life. Get up out that plain old ordinary bed, go to that plain old ordinary job, do that plain old ordinary work, come back to that plain old ordinary television, watch39:04 those plain old ordinary shows, eat that plain old ordinary food cooked by that plain old ordinary person. You can go through that plain old ordinary life. But God is also offering you a red39:16 pill that will introduce you to a whole another world. Because what Neo needed to know was that there was a people in Zion that needed to be delivered.39:29 And Morpheus says to him, Neo, you are the 1. God is saying to you and you and you and you and you, you are the39:41 1. I have a destiny for you, a plan for you. You can go home and forget it, or you can find out how deep this rabbit hole really goes.
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Footsteps of Peace Tony Evans
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