Your Experience and Your Destiny

When God puts something on your heart that you can't get rid of, he wants you to do something about it. Dr. Tony Evans talks about how the Lord can use your experience to direct you toward your destiny. You may not know what it is yet, but you keep an eye on what God has made you good at and then raise the question, God, how do you want to use this? This is the alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr.

Tony Evans. We've all made right turns and wrong turns on the road of life. But Dr. Evans says God's still in control of where we wind up. Let's join him as he talks about some of the ways the Lord reroutes our journey.

most major cities. have what we know as mix masters. This is where highways converge, usually near downtown. And so one highway meets another highway, that meets another highway, that meets another highway, and they mix. They cross, they connect.

So that people coming from various directions. and various locations converge. Today, I want to talk to you about the mixed master of your destiny. Where the highways of your life converge in order for God to take you where He wants you to be. The first highway we're going to travel down that God uses in order to bring you to your destiny.

is the highway of your experiences. The things he Let's you go through. And they fall into three categories, good, bad, and bitter. The good things are the positive experiences that God allows you to have that he wants to utilize at some point in the future to fulfill his purpose for your life. For example, Peter.

Peter knew how to catch fish. He knew how to throw the line. He knew how to put bait on the hook. He knew how to reel them in. He knew how to net them in.

He was a catcher of fish. Guess what Jesus says? I'm going to use your occupation to catch something else. God uses the good things, the positive things, in order to benefit his kingdom. And his cause.

even though you may not see it right now. But he also uses the bad things.

Now the bad things are the failures in your life. The mistakes, the regrets. Things that if you could live life over again, you wouldn't go there. You wouldn't hang out with them. And you wouldn't do that.

Their regrets, when you think of it, you cringe. And Luke 22, again, Peter. Verse 31, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has asked permission. to sift you like wheat.

Now, the first thing you need to know is an order. as a child of God for Satan to mess with you, he's got to get permission first.

Now, why would God give the devil permission to mess with you like he gave the devil permission to mess with Job? Why would he give the devil permission to mess with you? Or me. And us. He gives the devil permission.

so that you and I can see what we're really like. Because Satan draws out the evil that's in us that we may not even recognize.

So he will give the devil permission to let us see. We ain't all that. He says, but I have prayed for you. That your faith May not fail. And you, once you have been turned aside, strengthen your brothers.

There's a verse. There's a verse. You don't have to turn there. You can look at it later. The verse is found in Mark chapter 16, verse 7.

And let me tell you the context. The context is the lady, they're coming to the tomb, and they're on their way to the tomb. to anoint the body of Jesus. When they get to the tomb, they run into an angel. The angel says, He's not here.

He has risen.

So Jesus Christ has been crucified. He's now risen from the dead. The angel then tells the ladies. You go tell the disciples. That Jesus is not here, he is risen.

And then the angel says something else. Go tell the disciples that Jesus is not here and make sure you tell Peter. Peter is the only name the angel calls. He says, tell the group. But especially make sure you tell Peter.

Why would he say tell Peter? Because a few chapters earlier, Peter has denied the Lord three times. He denied the Lord three times before Jesus died.

Now Jesus is risen from the dead. Peter has gone fishing because he's so shook up at his failure that he doesn't feel like he can face going to church anymore, being with them Christians anymore, and certainly worshiping Jesus anymore because he'd have messed up too bad. But Jesus, through the angel, says, tell the disciples I'm alive, but make sure you tell Peter that he doesn't have to just run off and act like his life is over.

Some of you may feel like your life is over. But if God can ever get you and me to repent. And to turn, he can at least show us how much of the life we have left. Because he says, when you turn, I'm going to strengthen your brother.

So don't think God can't still use you if you're turning back to him and making yourself available to him. Oh, one other point I think I ought to bring to your attention: when does a rooster crow? Cockadoodle doo. When does the rooster crawl? The rooster crows at the beginning of a new day.

A rooster crowing means night is over. And daylight has come. Jesus said, Peter, you're going to deny me three times before the rooster crows.

So he denies the Lord at nighttime. But when the roots, the crows cockadoodle-doo, that means you got a brand new day ahead of you.

So if you Failed God yesterday, if you've abandoned God yesterday, if you've walked away from God yesterday, if you've adopted sin yesterday. Listen for the rooster crowing because the rooster crowing means there's a brand new day right in front of you, and you can walk into the new day because you've heard cock. I doodle doodle. You've heard the rooster crow. The beginning of a new day.

When you read the scripture, it's hard to find somebody where there's no bad. You go straight, you know. We wrote the book, God's Unlikely Path to Success, and walked through all the people. Who messed up?

Now, I don't want this misunderstood. You don't have to go out and say, oh, God uses people messed up. Let me go mess up so God can use me. Romans chapter 6, shall we sin that grace may abound? Shall we sin just because we know God will forgive us?

No, because there are consequences. And you don't want the consequences. That's what we tell our children. You don't want the consequences. But the good news is, even though There is failure.

When there is repentance, you give God the opportunity to express mercy. And so the bad are the failures that God wants to meet you at and move you from so that He can use you, so that He can show mercy. In the midst of your mass. Chuck Colson. Was locked up.

Because of Watergate. He gave his life to Christ in jail. When he came out of jail because of his experience in jail. When he got right with God, he began prison fellowship. Prison Fellowship is now the largest Christian prison ministry in the whole wide world.

Because a man who had been bad. But met God. developed a burden in prison. And God used it to build a Christian ministry that's winning prisons to Christ all over the world. Because God can take.

Mess. and make miracles. Once you turn to him.

So he uses the good. He uses the bad. And then he uses the bitter. The bitter Are the negative things that impact you that's caused by somebody else. The bad is what you do wrong.

The bidder is where you're carrying this hostility. because somebody messed over you. And it wasn't right. It wasn't right that you were abused. It wasn't right that you were abandoned.

It wasn't right that you were afflicted. It wasn't right that you were neglected. It wasn't right that you were fired. It wasn't right that you were taught.

So you see these negative things and you wonder, well, what did I do to deserve this? And all of us have said that at one time or another. I don't deserve this, or it's not fair. Fair, that's the bidder. When it's not fair and it's also not your fault.

Well, we don't have to go any further than Joseph's.

Sorry for that, do we? Genesis chapter 15. What does Joseph say? You meant it for evil. You meant it for evil.

You were out to get me. You were out to do me in. Your plan to mess my life up. Your plan to sell me into slavery, you meant bad against me. Ah, but the next phrase says God meant it.

Uses the same word. You meant it and God meant it.

So we got two folk meaning things. You meant it. For evil against me. And watch this. God meant it for good.

Now, why do you need to know that? Because you need to know people don't have the last word. They may have meant it, but God also means it. And when their mint meets God's meant. You're on your way to destiny.

Cause he says when God meant. You're mad. He did it to bring me to this place.

So God may have Allowed you to get fired unfairly so he could get you to the job he really wants you to have. He may have allowed somebody to abandon you so he could get you into the relationship that you really ought to be in. He may have allowed you to be abused because he has a ministry that only you can touch because you know where the people are who have gone through what you're going through.

So God may have allowed wrong to you so you can be right for somebody else or something else. He allows the bidder. Not because he's trying to hurt, but because he has a purpose, he has a destiny. Dr. Evans will take a look at some of the other merging highways you may be on when he returns in a moment.

First though, today's lesson is part of Tony's current teaching series called Destiny, Let God Use You Like He Made You. This Six Message Collection will give you a new appreciation for the unique way God shaped and molded who you are. At the same time, you'll learn how to find and follow the specific path toward the purpose he laid out before you were even born. For a few more days, we are making this life-changing collection available on CD or USB flash drive as our gift when you make a contribution to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station. And if we hear from you right away, we'll also send you something extra.

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But this special double offer won't be available for long, so be sure to take advantage of it right away. You can make the arrangements at tonyevans.org. or by calling one eight hundred eight hundred thirty two twenty two. Again, that's tonyevans.org. or call 1-800-800-3222.

and I'll have that contact information for you again after part two of today's lesson. Here's doctor Evans once again. The second highway Toward your destiny that's going to merge into this mixed master. are your passions. Passion has to do with fire.

A burn you can't get rid of. Passion has to do with something you can't shake. It has to do with something that stirs in your heart. It's heartburn. When God puts something on your heart that you can't get rid of, He wants you to do something about it.

He wants you to do something with it. And a lot of that burden comes out of our good, bad, and bitter experiences. We become concerned about people in the same situation we were in. We get concerned about scenarios that were similar scenarios to the scenario that we possess. And he creates a weight that you can't shake, a fire that you can't quench.

He lights a match like those candles. You keep blowing them out and they keep popping back on. And you try to get rid of it and it won't go away. Let me give you some good news. you don't have to become somebody else.

for God to use you. In fact, if you try to become somebody else, It's not you that he's using. And he doesn't need two of you. Because he made you, you. Which is why we got to work out our own salvation because He has a destiny for you.

He has a destiny for me. We're all his people, we're all his children, but we don't have the same assignment. And one of the worst things you can do in your life, I can do in my life, is try to be what I was never created to become. Or to let my desire to be like somebody else keep me from ever getting around to being me. The writers in the New Testament were different.

Paul is the scholar. Paul is the scholar. He's the writer of the New Testament. He can sit down and he can pin theology. Yeah.

I like what Peter says about Paul. Peter says, Paul is hard to understand. That's what Peter says. Peter writes in his epistle. He says, Trying to understand Paul is not easy.

And I can testify Peter knew what he was talking about. Because Paul has some deep stuff. He's talking about predestination. He's talking about election. He's talking about, he's using all this deep terminology.

And he's going into the breakdown of soteriology. And he's getting all it. And Peter says, he's hard to understand. Peter talked too much. He asked Jesus one day, Well, what's going to happen to John?

Jesus said, none of your business. None of your business. Let John worry about John. You worry about Peter. Yeah, I ain't come here to talk to you about John.

I came here to talk to you about Peter. You asked me about other folks' business. Stay out of his business and mind your own. That's what he told Peter. He told Peter, mind your business.

You want to get into all this other kind of stuff that has nothing to do with you. Folks put it this way, a charge is to keep I have. A God to glorify. Let God use you like he made you. Apart from sin.

Apart from the sin issue, we can distort reality. You have the right to be an introvert. if that's what he made you. I have the right to be an extrovert if that's what he made me. A lot of couples fight because they spend time trying to change each other.

A lot of fights. Because I'm trying to make her like me. She's trying to make me like her. And there's no thin, it's just difference. Leave her alone.

Leave him alone unless it's sin. If it's not sin, The differences are necessary in order to write the full script. In fact, they may be appropriate to give the full picture. And you have the right to be what God has made you, apart from not dealing with sin.

So, if God has made you a certain way, He's colored you with a certain personality, He's orchestrated you in a certain perspective. that's consistent with his word and had nothing to do with sin you are free to be you In other words, you don't have to try to be somebody else for God to use you. He works with you within the context. of the natural you like light flowing through a stained glass window. It's all glass and it's all light, but the color's going to look different.

because it's flowing through a different shade. And then finally, your giftedness. What has he skilled you to do?

Now sometimes that skill is a skill that you've developed naturally that he sanctifies and uses it. It's a natural ability. That he now takes and uses it supernaturally or spiritually. Remember now, your destiny will always benefit others, glorify God, and impact his kingdom. If it's not doing that, it's not a destiny, it's a job or it's something else.

But sometimes he takes the skill. When I was talking to Dr. Cooper, Kenneth Cooper, at the aerobic center, he was saying, most people think this is my job, but this is really my job, but it's not my job, it's my calling. I was trained as a doctor. Yeah, trained in medicine, so I know medicine.

But when I develop preventative medicine in order to keep people healthy, I use being a doctor as an opportunity to share my faith.

So I use this opportunity to share my faith through the medical skill gifting that I've received from God that he wants me to use to expand his kingdom.

So while he's in medicine, he's operating for the kingdom. He's using his skill, but he's using it with eternity in mind. Every believer has been gifted. Every believer has been gifted, Ephesians chapter 4. Verses 11 to 16: For the building up of the body and the advancement of the cause of Christ, it's a divine bestowed ability to build up.

The body of Christ and to advance the kingdom of God. And everyone has one. You may not know what it is yet. It may not have revealed itself yet. It may be unclear yet.

But you keep an eye on what God has made you good at, and then raise the question: God, how do you want to use this? By the way, when you use your gifting, using your gifting will bring you joy in using it. Or as Psalm 100 says, serve the Lord with gladness. There will be a fulfillment in using it. That doesn't mean you won't have frustration days or frustration hours, but there is a fulfillment in expressing it because it's you.

It's you. You're not being somebody else. This is how you flow. This is how you roll because you're being true to yourself. You're being true to what God has called you, in spite of the trials, in spite of the difficulty, you're being true.

to who you are. And when your experiences cross with your passions and your passions cross with your vision and your vision crosses with your personality, your personality crosses with your gifting, you just entered the mix master. But you may be here, you may be saying what Boy, I've messed up and I've walked away from God and I just got religion, but I don't have much relationship and I've lost so much time. And how am I going to make up this? And you may feel bad, but there's a man one day and he was on his way to catch a train.

He had to catch a train. It was the 805. Oh, he's running late. He's got to hurry up and catch the train.

So he says goodbye to his wife and he comes out the back door. And when he comes out the back door, to rush to catch the train, because he got to catch the 805 in order to make his appointment at his destination, he got to get the 805.

So he comes out of the door. And when he opens up the door, right in front of him is his little toddler son playing in the mud because it had rained last night. And when it rained last night, it made the ground outside of his back door muddy. And the little boy worked himself out the back door, the toddler, and he just playing in the mud, playing in the mud, playing in the mud. But daddy, he got to catch the 805.

He got to catch the 805 because he has a destination he's got to get to.

So he says goodbye to his wife and then he jumps over the little kid, his little son, the little toddler. But he doesn't jump far enough and he slips into the mud.

So now the baby's in the mud and the daddy's in the mud. The daddy, however, jumps up. rushes himself off. and takes off running. You know what?

He had a train to catch. He had to catch the 805. The little boy played in the mud.

Now there's a big difference between the little boy and the daddy. The little boy was in the mud, loved the mud, and played in the mud. Daddy slipped in the mud, was unsatisfied with the mud, got up, brushed the mud off, and rushed to catch the train because he had a destination he had to get to. You may be here in the mud, but don't be the toddler. Don't get so used to playing in the mud that you're satisfied with the mud and that you miss a train.

You got a train to catch. You got a destiny to get to. You got a place to guard. You got a God to glorify. You got a charge to keep.

So get up right where you are out of the mud because you got the 805. You got a train to catch because you got a destiny to reach. And you're not going to waste any more time not living out your destiny. Dr. Evans will return in a moment with a final thought about the link between your experience and your destiny.

But first, there's more to today's message than we had time to bring you on the air. The full-length version is part of Tony's current six-lesson series called Destiny, Let God Use You Like He Made You. Remember, it's yours as our way of saying thanks for your contribution right now. to help us keep the alternative coming your way each day. Along with it, you'll receive Dr.

Evans' brand new Fighting the Good Fight Devotional for Men. But, as I mentioned, this special offer runs out soon.

So visit us today at tonyevans.org. where you can get all the details and make the arrangements online. Again, that's tonyevans.org. or call our 24-hour resource request line at 1-800-800-3222-2. and let one of our team members help you.

That's 1-800-800-3222. Just when you think you've turned a corner in life, you come to another corner. and another and another. But doctor Evans says it won't always be that way. and he'll explain to morrow how you'll know when that time has come.

Right now, he's back with a final thought about putting the pieces of your life together. What I want you to do now is I want you to begin thinking about these things. What is the good? What is the bad? What is the bitter experiences that I've had?

God, how do you want to use this stuff that's made me who I am right now? How do you want to take my personality? What burden do you place on me that when I see it on TV or when I see it in people's lives, it just gets to me and I can't shake it. And what vision do you want me to use? How do you want to use me to address this area that I can't shake?

And then, Lord, the gift, what's the ability that's there? You begin to ask the Holy Spirit those questions and the Holy Spirit will begin to shake the mixed master until he begins to arrange things for your destiny. But until you and I make the decision that we want our destinies bad enough. You know, we want education bad enough. We want the salary bad enough.

We want the promotion bad enough. We want the position bad enough. We want the recognition bad enough. That's why we get up early and stay up late because we want it bad. Do you and I want our destiny bad enough?

And do we see life like it really is? Only one life will soon be passed, and only what's done for Christ will last. Will you and I be able to say like Paul, I fought a good fight, I've kept the faith, and I've finished my course? I finished my destiny. I'm ready to go because there's nothing here left for me to do.

Because I did what I was put here to do.