God allows you to chase the things that are ordinary in order to lead you to the extraordinary, which he will reveal when the right time to reveal it comes. But Dr. Tony Evans says the faith and patience it takes to wait for that intersection are worth it. Because you don't want to miss out on what God is doing that you can't see right now. This is the alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr.
Tony Evans. 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 explains today how you'll know when that time has come. Let's turn to 1 Samuel 9 as we join him.
Many If not most of us have. in our car's navigational systems. These navigational systems are designed to direct us to a particular destination. that we are seeking to arrive at. Even if you don't have one in your car, you...
probably have one on your smartphone. that will serve the same purpose of guiding you and directing you. to where you need to go. Today I want to answer the question, how you know when you've hit your destiny. The place where God is taking you.
Quite simply, You've reached the intersection of destiny. And it can be said, you have arrived. When the natural intersects with the supernatural. In such a way That God is glorified and people are benefited. We're introduced here to a man named Saul.
And Saul has an issue. Saul's father Peace. has lost his donkeys. And he doesn't know where to find them. They've escaped the pen, they've escaped the barn, if you will.
And donkeys were very critical. In biblical days, you You needed donkeys to haul things like you would use a U-Haul today. You needed donkeys to travel long distances. You needed donkeys to um support burdens and weights.
So he calls on Saul and he tells his son Saul. to go track down the donkeys. And he passes through verse 4, the hill country. He passes through the land of Shallah Shaw? And he did not find them.
He passes through the land of Shalem. But they were not there. Then he passed through the land of the Benjamites. But they did not find them. I think the author wants you to know he can't find them.
Because it keeps saying He's searching, he's searching, he's searching, he's looking. And he's traveling over some distance because he's traveling through different lands to find these donkeys. And he can't find them. You ever had a situation in life where you were looking for something you needed and wasn't able to locate it? Oh okay.
Maybe it was a better job. Maybe it was a better working situation. I mean, it could be any number of things. You just look in, and you just can't seem to find it. It's just not.
It's just the you're not able to locate this thing you want. that you need But that's important. And you go on and on and on. And you're trying to locate it because it's important to you for your earthly function. Because donkeys.
Are important for stuff you do on earth. It's important for your livelihood, for your living, for your career, for your well-being.
So he had this earthly situation. And he's trying to find. where they have gone to. That's our That's our problem.
Now he gets frustrated. He gets frustrated in verse 5, and he says to his servant who was with him. Come, let us return, or else my father will cease to be concerned about donkeys and will be anxious about us. Translation, I'm tired, I quit.
Okay, let's go home. He's ready to quit, but something happens that blocks him giving up. And what happened was his servant. Verse 6. But he said to him, his servants said to Saul, Behold, now there is a man of God in this city, and the man is held in honor.
All that he says surely comes true.
Now let us go there. Perhaps he can tell us about our journey on which way we have set out. See the problem was he couldn't find Duncan's.
So I can't find donkeys. Let me go home and tell my daddy I can't find donkeys. But the servant said, maybe we should bring the spiritual to bear on the natural. Because when you're tired and frustrated, you will often forsake the spiritual. or not think of the spiritual because the natural is not working out.
But he had somebody in his life, in his circle of influence, who brought God to bear on something that was normal, everyday, regular, not extraordinary. He brought God to bear on the natural. That's why you can't be a Lone Ranger Christian. That's why you can't live in spiritual isolation. Because if you don't have somebody in your life who will point to the spiritual, when you're frustrated with the natural, you may miss the destiny.
Because destiny is when the natural crosses the supernatural, even when it looks like they're unrelated. What in the world does a preacher have to do? With donkeys. What does God have to do with this situation that's not working out on my job, in my family, in my circumstance, in my singlehood, in my marriage? What has God got to do with this situation?
I'm just trying to find some donkeys. And I got a servant here saying, let's. Talk to the preacher about donkeys. Because destiny is when the ordinary And the natural. crosses the supernatural.
And God takes the ordinary to introduce you to something extraordinary. to introduce you to your destiny. And they went up to the city, verse 14. And as they came into the city, behold, Samuel was coming toward them to go to the high place. Verse 15.
Now, a day before Saul's coming, the Lord had revealed this to Samuel, saying, About this time tomorrow, I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel, and he will deliver my people from the hand of the Philistines, for I have regarded my people because their cry has come up to me. Watch this now. God tells Samuel Tomorrow you're going to meet a man named Saul. When you meet a man named Saul tomorrow, you are to anoint Saul to be. K.
You are to tell Saul his destiny, even though you haven't met Saul yet.
Now, God had a whole Of people in the Old Testament called prophets, and these prophets We're to receive the word from God and speak it to the people. to their specific situation. But he also has prophets in the New Testament. It is an underappreciated and underutilized group. There are probably some people here who've not yet discovered that you have this gift.
The Bible says in the New Testament, 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 20, despise not the prophetic utterance. Man, that's written to the New Testament church. Prophets don't write scripture as they did because scripture is complete. But what they do is take scripture and apply it to a particular individual's situation or a group scenario in life. You want a prophetic word because, in your situation, when you're trying to find your donkeys, you need a Rhema word, not just a general word about where donkeys live, how donkeys are born, you know, how many families have donkeys.
I'm trying to find my donkeys.
So, I need you to show me where my donkeys are located.
So, it is a personal word from God. And it's unfortunately. Too many Christians are satisfied with Grape and Logos who never get Rhema.
So they live on general information, not God directly speaking to them.
So you want a prophetic word. And that's why the Bible says when somebody lays a prophecy on you, don't immediately disregard it. It says, despise not. Prophetic utterances. Don't just throw it away because you didn't like it or it didn't sound right.
Now, I'll tell you how to verify it in a moment, but don't just disregard it because you could be entertaining angels unaware. Hebrews 13 says, you could be disregarding a message or a messenger sent from God to speak to your very personal situation. And of course, there are extremes on this thing where everybody's calling themselves the prophet this and prophet that, just making up stuff as you go along. We'll talk about that. But the Bible says the other extreme is to act like it doesn't exist.
to act like it's not real, despise not prophetic utterance.
Now He goes to the prophet and he meets Samuel at the urging of the servant, who says, Let's make this thing spiritual.
Now, If you are chasing donkeys, that is. You are trying to resolve something that's ordinary in your life. Donkey is an ordinary thing he was trying to find.
So you're chasing something that's legitimate. That's right to chase. But you're not getting anywhere. You're not finding it. It's not working out.
You're being blocked. Every place you look, it's not there. Every time you think it's going to work out, it's not locatable. Make sure you attach the spiritual to it. Because the servant said, there is a man of God who may give us insight on an ordinary situation.
That's why you don't leave God out of the details. doctor Evans will return with some solid encouragement for those who have been searching for solutions so long that they feel like giving up. But first, I'd like to remind you about our current featured resource, designed to give men daily encouragement for walking faithfully with Christ. It's Tony's brand new Fighting the Good Fight devotional for men. Each day's reading is packed with biblical truth and practical wisdom to help you stay strong in your faith, live with integrity.
and pursue the purpose God has designed for you. It's a powerful tool for men of all ages, and a meaningful gift for a father, son, or friend. We'd love to send you a copy as our thank you gift. All we ask is that you make a contribution to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station. and if you do that right away, we'll include a special bonus, all six full-length messages in Tony's current series, Destiny, Let God Use You Like He Made You.
But this offer ends in a few days, so visit us today at tonyevans.org. or call us at 1-800-800-322 before time runs out. I'll repeat our contact information later in the program. Right now, let's get back to Tony in first Samuel chapter nine.
So the donkey chase winds up leading him to a prophet. When Samuel saw Saul, verse 17, the Lord said to him, Behold the man of whom I spoke to you, the one, this one shall rule over my people.
So Saul has no idea. That in 24 hours His life is going to change and you have no idea. When God makes his move. And you hear the GPS says you have arrived. That God has something that will blow your mind outside of anything you have pre-planned.
So let's do this. Plan your life softly.
Okay? Because you may think the rest of your life is going to be fooling with donkeys when God's got a whole nother plan once you get a prophetic word, a prophetic connection, once God has a Rhema experience spoken into your life.
Now. Verse 27, as they were going down to the edge of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Say to the servant that he might go ahead of us and pass on, but you remain standing here that I may proclaim the word of God to you.
Okay? So the first way that you know That you have reached your destiny. is that the word of God will validate it. That is Scripture will be brought to bear that you know was speaking to you. That is, a personal word will agree with the written word.
Whatever God has told you that you think He's saying to you will be validated by something that scripture. I've had it done, seen it so many different ways. Where a person thought that God was saying this to them, and then they turned on the radio and turned on the Christian station, and they heard a sermon by somebody who was preaching on the exact principle that they thought they had heard from God, but it's now coming from somebody else from a prophetic word based on the word of God.
So it will always agree with the word of God. The personal word will agree with the written word.
Okay, so that's the first thing you start with. To put it another way, You cannot have a personal word that disagrees with the written word and think you've got a God word. Because God will never contradict himself, tell you one thing when he's written something else.
So it will correspond.
Okay, that's the first thing regarding your intersection of the natural with the supernatural, even if it comes from you chasing donkeys. That's number one. But here's number two because the question is How do I know that that was for me? How do I know I just wasn't thinking it, dreaming it? How did I know that what I heard, I wasn't just kind of forcing it to make it sound like what it wanted to sound like because it was what I wanted to do?
Everybody's there. Oh, don't look like you're that spiritual. Everybody has had this question: is that really God? Right? Is that really God?
Is it just something I'm thinking? Is it God or did I make it up?
Okay, so here it is. You know it's a Rhema word. For you. When God confirms it with the written word, And then confirms it with some circumstance outside of you.
Okay? He confirms it in you. He confirms it with his written word. But then he confirms it with something that you have nothing to do with. Michelle, you love me.
Chapter 10. Then Samuel took the flash of oil, poured it on his head, kissed him, and said, Has not the Lord anointed you as ruler over this, over his inheritance, over Israel? When you go up from here today, you will find two men close to Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin. They will say to you, the donkeys which you were looking for have been found.
Now behold, your father has ceased to be concerned about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, what shall I do about my son? Then you will go up and further from there, you will come as far as the oak of Tabor and there three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you, one carrying three goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a jug of wine. And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from their hand. Mouth! If you're here, two men gonna meet you.
And then three million gonna meet you. And then they gonna have two goats. And you run into two men and three men and some goats. Uh that ain't luck folks. That's not chance.
That's God validating outside of you the word he has given to you, because God confirms his word with things you can see when you're wrestling with things you can't see.
Now don't mix this up. The external things are confirmation. Not determination. Determination is his word to you, in you. confirmed by what he has written.
But just so you know, you're not jumping to conclusions, just so you know, you're not making things up. God confirms his word externally. That's what Jesus was doing when he was on earth and he did these signs. The signs and miracles were not designed to be the message, they were designed to confirm the message, to confirm that he was who he said he was.
So God will allow things to happen in you that are confirmation to you that he has spoken about you in the particular word that he has given to you about your destiny because Saul is getting transferred into destiny.
Now remember, this happens overnight. You know my words, suddenly. Immediately.
So let's solve a big problem right now. Don't try to figure God out. How he's going to do it, when he's going to do it, who he's going to use, because Saul has never heard of Samuel. He's never heard of Samuel. The servant talked to him about Samuel.
So don't try to figure God out. Let me make it even more specific. Don't try to figure out your destiny. Just keep chasing your donkeys.
Okay. Don't try to figure out your desk. Don't try to say, okay, does God want me to do this? Gang woman did that. No, no, no, no, no.
Keep chasing your donkeys. and have somebody near you Who won't let you quit when the going gets tough or when you get tired? Because God allows you to chase the things that are legitimate in life that are ordinary in order to lead you to the extraordinary, which He will reveal when the right time to reveal it comes. Because God is the God of timing. Remember, He said.
Tomorrow, you're going to meet the man. Because God's got this thing timed out perfectly. But if you quit and go back home If you don't have somebody to encourage you, if you don't have a group, another Christian who is spiritually minded, who won't just let you talk about donkeys and not bring God to bear on the ordinary with the spiritual. then you might miss the intersection. of your destiny.
Let me show you something else. Verse 6 and verse 9 of chapter 10. Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily, and you shall prophesy with them and be changed into another man. Verse 9. Then it happened when he turned his back to leave Samuel, God changed his heart, and all those signs came about on that day.
Your destiny will glorify God. Your destiny will benefit others. And your destiny will change you. Verse 6 and verse 9. He says, when you come into your destiny, We're going to change your heart.
and you're going to become another man. A lot of people want their destiny who don't want to be changed. God, give me my destiny. A charge to keep I have. A God to glorify.
They want a destiny without a transformation. No, Part of your destiny is God changing you to become the person he wants you to be so he has the right person in the right place to achieve the right goal that the destiny is designed to bring.
So he wants to change you too. One of the best ways to find your destiny is give God the freedom to change you. Give God the freedom. God changed him. And he says, and when God changed him, all the things God said came to pass.
But if God can't change you, he can't use you. See, if you refuse to be changed, if you say, God, I don't want you messing with me, I don't want you messing with me, just show me how you want to use me. But don't mess with me. Don't touch me. I'm not available to be changed.
Then you're going to miss out on what God does because He doesn't want you to be a blessing and not be transformed in the process.
So what does God do? He creates a hookup. With the natural, chasing donkeys, just fulfilling the ordinary things you're going after that are legitimate. That nothing seems to be happening with. It could be a job.
It could be a you want a better job, and God's not letting you get out of that job and you want a better working conditions. He's not letting you get away from those people, even though it's legitimate to change jobs. You want a mate, but none of the people that you talk to are working out, and they're not working out with you. It just looks like nobody is on the horizon, and you're chasing donkeys, and nothing is working out. You want to change this situation and change that situation.
That's legitimate because chasing donkeys are legitimate. You're trying to get there, but nothing is working out. And every land you go to, you can't find what you're looking for. And you want to quit. In fact, Watch this.
It's at the time you want to quit that you need to keep going. It's at the point of let me go back home, let me walk away from God, let me walk away from church, let me walk away. It's at the time, because see, right now in this house, there are some quitters. There are some people here who have already given up. You just haven't left your seat yet.
But you've already given up. Because nothing's gonna change. This is not gonna get better. This is not gonna be any different. Then you need to hook up with somebody.
Who's gonna bring the spiritual to bear and pull you along like a jogger running beside you who won't let you quit, who tells you keep going right around the bend, you know, come on, come on, who keeps you going because you don't wanna miss out. on what God is doing that you can't see right now. Dr. Tony Evans, talking about how God uses the intersections in our lives to direct us toward our destiny.
Well, we're getting close to the end of Tony's current series called Destiny, Let God Use You Like He Made You. That makes this the perfect time to visit TonyEvans.org for details on getting a copy to review on your own or to share with a friend or your life group. When you support the alternative with a donation, we'll send you this six-part collection as our thank-you gift. Along with the book I mentioned earlier. Dr.
Evans brand new Fighting the Good Fight Devotional for Men. As always, the details are waiting for you online at tonyevans.org. where you can browse through our huge library of resources and sign up for Tony's free weekly email devotional. Again, that's tonyevans.org. You can also reach out to our resource center at 1-800-800-3222-222.
and let one of our team members help you. That's 1-800-800-3222. Worship is designed to be something we give to the Lord. But doctor Evans says we get a lot out of it too. including insight into our God-given destiny.
I hope you'll join us when he explores that connection tomorrow.
