Why does God seem to lead us in circles instead of just directly taking us to our destiny? Tony Evans says one reason is that God prepares the people that He wants you to impact when you arrive at your destination. In this lesson on the detours of provision, learn how arriving at your destiny will always involve benefiting those around you.
when he’s ready to change your situation
he can do it
suddenly
immediately
out of nowhere where that comes from wow
bam boom
that god could come so don’t get upset
that you don’t see anything because
you’re in the dark dungeon
because god is doing something over here
that you don’t know the first thing
about until it’s time for god to create
a hookup
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[Applause]
you see what we’ve tried to explain to
all of us doing this series is
that on your way to your destiny there
will be detours
there will be places you didn’t plan to
go
people you never plan to meet
situations you never thought you would
be in
even mistakes you never thought you’d
make
predicaments that you never thought
would be your problem
and it would all
be allowed by a sovereign providential
god
as long as you and i choose to live with
a small god
the circumstances of life will dictate
to us
but the moment you expand the meaning of
god to this
all-encompassing sovereign person when
nothing gets to you unless it passes
through his fingers first
then all of a sudden
you may not like the prison the pit the
problem the predicaments that you’re in
but because you’ve attached him to god’s
sovereign plan
because you understand there is a
blueprint in heaven with your name on it
and it is all designed
to bring you
to your destiny
every believer every christian has a
divine design
for your life
it may be a little foggy right now maybe
a little clear
it may not have been totally manifested
for any number of reasons
but nevertheless
you have one and don’t leave earth
without it
rarely
let’s state it again
rarely
does god take you from where you are
to where he wants you to be in a
straight line
why
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 sometimes ugly
number one
is to develop your character
he wants to make you a better person and
he never does that without tests
tests are adverse circumstances that god
causes or allows in order to develop us
spiritually
it’s a test
and nobody gets away from them
you say how long do i have to be in this
test how you pass
because god believes in retesting
but there is a second reason for the
detours
and it is the reason of our message
today
that god
allows detours on his road to destiny
in order to prepare
those who he wants
you to impact
when you arrive at your destiny
let me say it another way
destiny always involves
you benefiting others beyond yourself
let me say that again
your destiny isn’t only about you
so if it’s all about you
and nobody but you
and the only three people on planet
earth is me myself and i
you’ve 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 look at chapter 50
of genesis
the summary chapter we’ve used for this
whole series
he says in verse 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 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 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 to provide
for you
because your destiny is never only about
you
he is carrying you to your destiny
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 most 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 is experiencing enjoying and
extending the goodness of god in your
life
so if your blessing starts with you it
won’t be there long
because god is looking for conduits not
just cul-de-sacs
places he can work through not just
people he can come to
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 about you
because you’re citizens of another
country of another kingdom if you will
you represent another king and he wants
his anthem played
he wants you to know you’re part of
something bigger
now don’t get me wrong
i’m not hating 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 better something
in your life and prove something in your
life reverse something in your life i
know you need god
for you
but your destiny cannot only be for 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 bringing me my destiny
so here’s how it works
there are two reasons why you can delay
your destiny
where god wants to take you
one 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 the
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
so 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 to work to you that
can delay the arrival of your destiny
james chapter 1 says true religion
manifests itself in ministry to others
now
you have to understand
god is always doing more than one thing
at a time that involves you
involves you but because 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 here 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
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 you 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
here joseph is in prison he interprets
the cup bearer’s dream he tells the
cabal remember me to pharaoh
and the cup bearer forgets him have you
ever been in a situation where it looked
like god was answering your prayer and
the reverse happened
you thought you had an answer
and the exact opposite to the answer
occurred and you want to know god why
you want to do me like 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 he disappoints
you on purpose
it says the cup bearer forgot him after
he had
saved the caprara his life through
interpreting his dream
how 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 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
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
uh it’s not right it’s taking too long
that’s his situation
verse 1 of chapter 41. now it came about
at the end of two full years that
pharaoh had a 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
terrorizes 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 egypt
and all the wise men and pharaoh told
them his dreams but there was not one
who could interpret them to pharaoh okay
stick it with me now
joseph is languishing in a 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 all 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
joseph doesn’t know pharaoh
doesn’t know joseph
the cup bearer knows them both
because the cup bear was in prison with
joseph and he worked for pharaoh
what happened
verse nine then the chief cup bearer
spoke to pharaoh saying i would make
mention today of my own offense pharaoh
was furious 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 one of us dreamt
according to interpretation of his own
dream verse 12 now
a hebrew youth was there
a servant of the captain of the body god
and we related to him and he interpreted
our dreams to each one he 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 cupbearer’s memory comes back
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wait a minute pharaoh you had a dream
you couldn’t interpret it scared you to
death
two years ago i had a dream scared me to
death
and there was this jewish 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
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
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 in people’s minds
he brings it back to the cupbearer’s
mind about joseph and watch this because
i want to make a big point a big point a
big point it says verse 14 then pharaoh
sent and called for joseph and they
inherently brought him out of the
dungeon where he had shaved himself
changed his clothes and be and came to
pharaoh
now here’s what i want you to know don’t
you miss this
joseph had
absolutely no idea
about the dream had never met pharaoh
he doesn’t know what’s going on he’s in
a hole all by himself
but in less than 24 hours
his world changes
in 24 hours he’s released from prison
in 24 hours
he’s given a shave
in 24 hours
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
20 41 chapter 41 after he interprets the
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 ring 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 wrote him 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
okay let’s review because let’s see some
of you saying where you going with this
where you going with this i’m going
somewhere
he’s in jail
he’s forgotten in jail
he’s in the lowest part 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 cup
bear who i helped forgot me
all of a sudden
somebody comes opening the cell door
says here’s a gillette razor shave
here’s some nice clothes change take a
bath
you going 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 gift that he 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’s 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 limousine service a chariot
makes him second in command
and now everybody in egypt is bowing
their knee
to joseph
this is in 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
when he’s ready to change your situation
he can do it
suddenly
immediately
out of nowhere where that comes from wow
bam boom
that god could come so don’t get upset
that you don’t see anything because
you’re in the dark dungeon
because god is doing something over here
that you don’t know the first thing
about until it’s time for god to create
a hookup
now
because see that’s not the point of the
sermon
but see
y’all like that part of the sermon
because see
joseph got bling now
joseph is the man now
joseph is living large now
joseph has been
blessed
with stuff
having used 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 of
blessing
i got more stuff better job more money
better carb nicer clothes nicer house
remember your blessing includes you but
it’s not only about you
look at chapter 45
the story continues
he’s now with his brothers he’s forgiven
his brothers and remember that
forgiveness is easy when you know god is
using it
and here’s what he says to his brothers
who are
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 for
god sent me before you to preserve your
life
watch this now
you sold
and while you were selling god was
sending
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 were doing were blessing me
if they would have known
that their brother was going to wind up
being their provider
they would have never sold them
but god let them sell them
so that god could send them
in order to preserve them he says god
did this to preserve
life verse six
for the famine has been in the land
these two years and there are still five
years in which there will neither be
plowing or harvesting here it is
god sent me before you to preserve you a
remnant in the earth and to keep you
alive by a great uh by a great
deliverance
and it goes on to say in verse 11 there
i will provide for you for there are
still five 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 a 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 you spiritually that’s
the most important blessing when he
blesses you materially when he blesses
you circumstantially when he blesses you
influentially when he changes your
status in life and he 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 the shortest way to cut short
your destiny is to only be thinking
about you and not the reason that god
bless you which is always to be a
blessing to somebody beyond you
beyond you
the crisis of pharaoh the crisis in the
culture and by the way
egypt is not a christian nation pharaoh
is not a christian man
he is a
he is a believer in a secular world
in a secular society so all of you who
are 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 secular environment
to stand for god because you’ll find out
in the last sermon that that was the key
to joseph’s life he didn’t apologize for
his faith just because he was in a
secular environment
see he didn’t he didn’t hide his
christianity in order to be accepted by
pharaoh
because we got too many secret asian
christians and god can’t use you if
you’re gonna hide his name
if you’re gonna hide the association
with him
and so
now it’s opened up now now this this
this opportunity to be a blessing has
has been 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
god would take personal and detours
positive and negatives
he would then do something in their life
that turned their situation around
and then he would use them to benefit
folks outside of themselves
god told abraham
genesis chapter 12. he said abraham
i want you to leave the land of your
parents
and i want you to go to a land that i
will show you but i’m not going to tell
you about it in advance
i just want you to walk by faith
he says i’m going to show you
now if you follow abraham’s 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 through 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 going to do and then god said to
abraham and when i bless you through you
all the nations of the earth will be
blessed
he says hey i got a big plan for you but
you’re not ready for it yet it’s going
to take you 25 years for you to be ready
for what i want to 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 will work through you and
when i do my thing through you it’s
going to blow your mind
because it’s going to touch the whole
world
god’s got a world for you to touch
how would a little boy know that giving
jesus
sardines and crackers would give a moby
dick sandwich to 25 000 people
because when your destiny is given to
jesus’s hands he’s not only going to use
it to fill you up he’s going to use it
so you can be a blessing to others
so
don’t be satisfied
to be blessed alone
because your destiny becomes realized
when you decide to be a blessing as well
how do you know when you’re on a
divinely ordained detour
when god has allowed your life to go in
directions that you didn’t plan on
but he has done so with good reason
one of the primary proofs of detours
is when god
gives you glimpses of his presence in
the midst of your crisis
when he shows up in unexpected ways
through people through circumstances
through situations to let you know
he’s giving you a wink he’s in the
vicinity even though he hasn’t changed
the situation
look for his presence in spite of the
problem
and you will discover he is with you
even when things don’t seem to make
sense
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you