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. 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. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually.
we want god to take us way up here but
he can’t take us deep in here if you
want god to take you high then you got
to let god take you deep because the
deeper he takes you the higher he can
take you and you won’t fall over when
the bad times comes
don’t give up on god because god has not
given up on you
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when we get into our story today joseph
is going to be 30 years old
we started when he was 17 chapter 42
verse 46 says that joseph is 30 years
old when these events occur so this is a
13-year detour
because you don’t go
from
detour to destiny in a straight line
but i’m going to share with you the
three things to look for
that will let you know
you’re getting ready to move
off of detour on to destiny
onto the place god has for you
the place god’s taking you to the three
things that come out of this story
of the life of joseph
that you ought to look for
if you are serious about
your relationship with god and serious
about his purpose for you
number
one you know you’re getting ready to
leave detour
and enter the highway of destiny
when god disappoints you just when you
thought he was coming through for you
chapter 40.
joseph is in prison
he’s interpreted the dreams from the two
gentlemen we talked about last week
joseph says only verse 14 keep me in
mind when it goes well with you and
please do me a kindness by mentioning me
to pharaoh and get me out of this house
this jail for i was in fact kidnapped
from the land of the hebrews and even
here i have done nothing
that should have put me into this
dungeon this jail
joseph
looks like
he’s finally going to be delivered
he’s interpreted the cupbearer’s dream
told told the cupbearer you’re going to
live you’re not going to die
he’s giving the cup bearer good news
he says and when you get delivered
mention me to pharaoh
carefully this is innocent hebrew boy
still in jail get me up out of here up
out of here up out of here cause i don’t
belong in here i’m tired of being in
here and you are going to be situated
and since i helped the brother out i h.b
owed you
you remember me to pharaoh when you get
out of here
it looks like
god has finally brought somebody into
his life who can help him
who can deliver him who can send a good
word for him
it looks like his day has finally
arrived god has sent a contact who can
speak on his behalf
verse 23
yet the chief cup error did not remember
joseph
but forgot him
you know
you are headed toward destiny
and off of detour
when it looks like god has set things up
to deliver you and he goes left on you
when god goes left on you
it’s good news in a bad situation
when your human contacts can’t help you
and your money can’t buy you out of it
and you are thrown on him alone
then guess what he gets the chance to be
god
number two
number one is when god disappoints you
number two which is kind of related to
it
is when god skips you
one is disappointed you
then he skips you all together
okay
chapter 41 verse 1
now it happened at the end of two full
years that pharaoh had a dream and
behold he was sitting by the nile
okay let’s talk about these two years
joseph is 30 before this
before all this is going to come about
does it really happen
he’s in jail for another two years so
that means he’s 28 right now
so he’s 28 so for 11 years now he’s been
on his detour
he finally looks like he’s getting ready
to be delivered
and the cupbearer forgets all about him
and he’s stuck there for two years
but two years later pharaoh has a dream
joseph has never met pharaoh
he hadn’t he never met pharaoh he knows
pharaoh is pharaoh but he’s never met
him
joseph has no connection with pharaoh’s
dreams
pharaoh is going to sleep and he dreams
he dreams about some ugly cows seven
ugly cows eating
seven good cows
then he dreams about some
some some corn and seven ears of corn uh
tiny corn eating the good corn
and he can’t figure this out
i got cows eating cows and corn ain’t
gone and and i can’t sleep
wait a minute
joseph is over here locked up in prison
pharaoh’s in a mansion in in the king’s
house
pharaoh has a dream
this dream is going to be the link
between joseph getting to me pharaoh
but the dream happens
unbeknownst
to joseph
so
god is working over here
unbeknownst to joseph over here
because he’s doing something there
that’s gonna hook up over here that over
here has no knowledge is taking place
over there
okay let’s deal with vocabulary three
words that either you shouldn’t use it
all
or if you use them
apologize
after you use them
luck chance or faith are not christian
words
you cannot have a sovereign god who’s in
control and have luck chance or fate
because that means nobody was
controlling the events
and since we have a sovereign god
who the bible says not one hair of your
head dropped off of which he is not
fully knowledgeable of and fully
connected to
there can be no such thing as luck
chance or fate
there is another word we’ll describe
later it’s called providence
where the fingers of god are in the
glove of history controlling hookups
when the two years are ready
why are you gonna leave joe there for
two years god
because i need two years
before pharaoh is ready for the dream
but i need two years
for joseph to develop full dependency
and when preparation meets purpose
detour meets destiny
pharaoh has a dream
verse eight now in the morning of his
spirit was troubled
so he sent and called for all the
magicians of egypt
and all of the wise men
and pharaoh told them his dreams
but there was not one who could
interpret them to pharaoh
he called the the creme de la creme he
called the magicians and the smart folk
called the wise men he got the smartest
people around say this was my dream what
does it mean
and they said
i don’t know because watch this
when god is setting something up
he will not let human wisdom come up
with an answer joseph is sitting there
wondering god how long how long am i
going to be on the tarmac
well joseph
joseph is sitting in the cell
and uh
god has
skipped joseph because he’s dealing with
this dream
and that leads to
a third thing
god surprises you
the first thing is god disappoints you
second thing is he skips you he does
something outside of you do you even
know what’s happening
and then the third thing
is he surprises you
verse 9
chapter 41 then somebody say then
then the chief cupbearer spoke to
pharaoh saying i would make mention
today of my own offense pharaoh was
furious with his servants and he put me
in confinement in the house of the
captain of the bodyguard both me and the
chief baker we had a dream on the same
night he and i each of us dreaming
according to the interpretations of his
own dream
now a hebrew youth was in there a
servant of the captain of the bodyguard
and was released and was related
and we related them to him and he
interpreted our dreams for us 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 you hanged him then pharaoh
sent and called for joseph and they
hurriedly brought him out of the dungeon
shocker
the dream says the pharaoh says i got a
dream
wise men
interpret it they can’t
be
lightbulb comes on in the cupbearer’s
head
dream interpretation dream
interpretation interpretation dream
dream interpretation interpretation
dream
pharaoh
i just remembered
two years ago there was this dude in
jail and i had a nightmare on elm street
like you did and there’s this dude in
jail and we had a dream and me and the
baker when you got mad at us and we told
this guy this just some dude named
joseph he’s a hebrew guy we told him our
dream he interpreted it and the dream
came true
yeah yeah
you want to talk to him
now i know for some of you that’s luck
chance or faith
but that shouldn’t be in your vocabulary
that’s called providence
the hand of god moving in the glove of
history creating a dream
reminding the cup bearer about his
relationship years ago
that makes a connection
so that now pharaoh wants to meet a man
named joseph who he never knew
because god brings back to the
remembrance of the cup bearer
when it’s
time
see unless you believe that god is a god
of time
and that he is manipulating
circumstances
now pharaoh
calls joseph and says i got a dream
the cupbearer says you can help me
can you help me
he said well tell me the dream and then
because joseph never forgot god he said
and god will give you the interpretation
because joseph even though he’s two
years on a detour he never forgot god
god would give you everything he says
okay the seven bad cows are seven bad
years that you’re gonna have after seven
good years you’re gonna have seven good
years some bad years so you gotta save
up in the good years for the bad years
and and he interprets it
oh by the way when god brings you out of
detour and on the destiny he cleans you
up
uh cause uh
because we find out in verse 14
then pharaoh sent and called for joseph
and then hardly brought him out of the
dungeon and when he had shaved himself
changed his clothes he came to pharaoh
oh he can clean you up when it’s time to
take you out of those jail clothes
out of that bad situation and so and so
now he surprises him because after two
years you’re gonna think there’s no hope
you’re not gonna think that’s hope when
you’ve been waiting for two years and
nobody’s knocked on your door
because some of you perhaps have given
up because your detour is too long
sometimes you need to do a study in the
bible on the word suddenly
suddenly is when god surprises you when
it comes out of nowhere when you
couldn’t have planned that when you
couldn’t when you couldn’t have expected
that suddenly out of nowhere he gets a
knock on the door leave yourself
leave yourself
because there the pharaoh needs to see
you
okay but how do you know
how do you know
that what’s happening is really god
because sometimes you want to
this is really god this is just
something to happen okay how do you know
it’s it’s it’s a god move and not just
something that happened well one you
shouldn’t believe in luck chance or
faith but but how do you practically
know
that you know that you know
oh this is a god move here this is the
move off of off of detour to destiny or
at least moving me my progress of detour
how do you know okay i’m gonna tell you
how you can know and it’s in the passage
chapter 40
1
verse 32.
now as for the repeating of the vision
of the dream
to pharaoh
twice
it means that the matter is determined
by god
and god will quickly bring it about
twice
the scripture says by two or three
witnesses shall a matter be confirmed
so when god comes through
twice
when he does it a second time
that’s why gideon had the fleece on one
side one day flipped it on the other
side another day because he needed
verification
is this really you god or is this the
devil trying to trick me is this really
you god or this people trying to divert
me i need to know if it’s you look for
twice
because god will always confirm his will
he will always validate his word and he
says pharaoh the reason you know it’s
from god is because he gave it
twice he didn’t just give you the
cows he gave you the cows and the corn
and when he gave you the two seeds
then you know it is from god so don’t
just look at what happened look if it
happened twice
because god verifies himself a second
time
i am not we are not supposed to be in
dallas dallas is not where i am supposed
to be in terms of my plans
as i prepared my last year of school in
college in atlanta
we had driven up to winona lake indiana
to a school i decided to go to seminary
believe that god wanted me to go to
seminary so we drove up and we got
situated
for school to plan to go to school in
the following september in winona lake
indiana there’s a school there a
seminary there called grace theological
seminary
drove up was accepted
and went to look for housing
everything was planned
all the preparation had been made
because i had a plan
it was a clear plan i was going to go to
winona lake indiana to this particular
school all arrangements made
while in class one day
a gentleman
named doug mcintosh
after he got his master’s degree at
dallas seminary doug mcintosh was
invited to become a pastor of a church
in atlanta georgia
i am going to school to college in
atlanta georgia
doug mcintosh
was invited to be an adjunct professor
at my school in georgia
so he is teaching bible classes
in the bible department of my college in
georgia
i
elected to take one of doug mcintosh’s
class
i have already made my plans to go to
winona lake indiana
it is too late to apply to anywhere else
plus i’ve already decided where i want
to go
doug mcintosh passes me in class and
says one sentence actually two
sentence number one have you ever
thought about applying to dallas
seminary my answer no i’ve already
applied to grace seminary and i’ve
already been accepted plus it’s now may
so it’s too late for the upcoming
september
he says if i pay your application fee
will you at least apply
well it’s only me filling out paper if
you’re gonna fill out the check i will
apply but i’ve already decided that i’m
going to winona lake indiana
he then writes out 50 75 whatever it was
with the application fee i fill out the
form
and i mail it in with not much
expectation because i already have my
destination i already have my plan
and doug mcintosh as far as i’m
concerned is just a nice professor who
wants to do a nice thing
for should i say a nice student so doug
mcintosh comes up and he writes the
check and we mail it in
two weeks three weeks later
i get a response from dallas seminary
that you have been admitted to dallas
seminary even though it’s past the time
for admittance
so now i got to rethink this thing
i got my plan
he comes out of nowhere i don’t really
know him he asked me to do something i
don’t need to do he offers to pay for it
even though it’s too late to do it i get
a response telling me i’m accepted all
of a sudden i got two witnesses i got
the witness of doug mcintosh asking me
but i got the witness of the school
admitting me even though it’s past time
so with two witnesses we flip our plans
make our way west to dallas instead of
northeast indiana and that’s why i’m at
eau claire bible fellowship today
because god has a way
of twisting and steering and turning and
suddenly coming out of nowhere but he
does it via detours
he doesn’t do it on a straight line
so i’m challenging you today if you’re
on a detour
to get in his will
to stop letting human opinion keep you
on a detour following the ways of man
that contradict the ways of god
and even though i don’t know how long
your detour is going to be
i do know he knows where your destiny is
located and when the hookup is supposed
to occur
i know you get tired that’s why you’ve
got to be ministering to others in the
same situation you’re in until god
ministers to you so that you’re putting
out and not just keeping it all in
i know that god has a destiny a place
where he’s taking you with but god has a
place he’s taking you there was a man
one day who was ready to give up on god
he was tired
life wasn’t going well and he didn’t
know if god was going to come through
when god was going to come through and
he told god i quit perhaps that’s you
today i quit that’s the way you feel
but you don’t want to quit because you
know he’s there but you don’t feel him
you don’t see him you’re like joseph
you’re locked up in jail but he was
ready to give up
he decided to go to the woods
and have a final conversation with god
he says god
you have disappointed me
you got me stuck out here and i don’t
know why i don’t know how long
and i’m just ready to give up on you god
unless you do something
or say something right now
it’s as if heaven opened up
and spoke to the man
told the man look around and tell me
what you see
the man looked around
and he saw some fern
and he saw some bamboo
he said well in this spot man i just see
some ferns and some bamboo
god said exactly
he said let me tell you about the fern
and the bamboo
he says when the fern seed was planted
the ferns grew up very quickly and
they’re lush and green and beautiful
he says but let me tell you about the
seed for the bamboo
when the seed was planted for the bamboo
the first year you saw nothing the
second year you saw nothing the third
year you saw nothing the fourth year you
saw nothing and the fifth year you saw
nothing it was at the end of the fifth
year fifth year that the first shoot of
the bamboo came up
he says how tall is that bamboo that
you’re looking at it’s a hundred feet
tall
he says the reason why the bamboo is a
hundred feet tall
is because the five years when you saw
nothing it was growing deep on the
inside it was growing deeper roots on
the inside now the reason it was going
deeper on the inside is because i knew i
planned for it to be a hundred feet on
the outside now that fern isn’t growing
as high so it could come out real quick
but because of where i was taking the
bamboo i had to allow things to go deep
inside before i could show what it would
look like outside
if god is taking a long time with you
it’s cause he’s trying to take you deep
on the inside because of where he plans
to take you on the outside see a lot of
us want to skyscraper destiny on a
chicken coop foundation
that we want we want god to take us way
up here but he can’t take us deep in
here if you want god to take you high
then you got to let god take you deep
because the deeper he takes you the
higher he can take you and you won’t
fall over when the bad times comes don’t
give up on god because god has not given
up on you
when we pass the test that god brings
our way
through the detours of life
then he brings about a promotion to the
next spiritual grade level
now god does believe in retesting
so the quicker we pass the test that the
detours bring our way
the quicker we can be promoted to what
god wants us to experience next
sometimes those promotions come quickly
and suddenly
other times they come gradually
but it’s clear when they come
because the supernatural enters the
natural
god shows up in an unmistakable way
and it becomes clear that heaven has
visited history
and has adjusted the trajectory of your
life
so pass your test as quickly as possible
so your promotion can come soon
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i’m standing here in alaska one of the
most glorious places in god’s great
creation and i want to invite you to
join me in our urban alternative family
for the alaskan cruise we’re going to
have a magnificent time
in god’s word and in god’s creation
we’re going to enjoy great fellowship
great fun great food and i’m looking
forward to meeting and greeting you on
our tua alaskan cruise
register to be there can’t wait to be
with you
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you