Your detour has an exit when your preparation meets God's purpose. Life's little side trips happen for a reason. And Dr. Tony Evans says they won't end until that purpose is accomplished. When your time connects with His time, you are now moving from detour to destiny.
This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.
Sometimes it seems like the end of one detour in life lends us right at the beginning of another. Today, Dr. Evans will let us in on the reason for that as he continues his look at the life of Joseph. Let's join him in the 39th chapter of Genesis. Detours are not fun, they're not pleasant, they take longer than your trip.
was originally designed to take Because God must prepare you for the destiny. Myself and Sister Evans were on our way back from Denver, Colorado. And we got on a plane. Our plan was a straight line. Leave Denver.
Arrive in Dallas. An hour and 45 minutes. Two-thirds into the flight. The pilot came on and said. There are storms in the Dallas area.
And we have been rerooted. We won't be going to Dallas. We're going to be landing in Oklahoma City.
Now Oklahoma City was not in my plans. I had not requested it, desired it, anticipated about it, thought about it, or wanted it. Yet somebody else was in control. And the somebody who was in control told me I wasn't going. where I thought I was headed.
And we wind up landing. in Oklahoma City. Not only were we in Oklahoma City, but we were stuck on an airplane. A place I didn't want to be stuck. The pilot kept coming on and saying, it's going to be 15 minutes.
20 minutes. Two hours later, he came back on and said, It's going to be 15 minutes. Or 20 minutes. For hours. Stuck on a plane in a place I didn't plan to be.
for circumstances I could not control. Finally, we were told after hours on the tarmac. We could leave Oklahoma City. And I could get back to my destiny. Which was Dallas, Texas.
And so the plane got on the runway. Buckle your seatbelt. We'll have you in Dallas in just A few moments. As the plane began to take off. It slowed down.
And we're back on to the tarmac. And the pilot said, I am so sorry, but new storms have shown up. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area. And so we were not able to take off.
So we're going to be here. For 15 or 20 minutes longer. It wasn't 15 or 20 minutes. And we were stuck. In Oklahoma City.
The detour When we thought we were going to take off Took a detour.
So they said again. Things have cleared up in Dallas. We're going to take off. Didn't bother to buckle my seat belt. But this time The plane took off.
Finally. I'm going to reach my destiny. Which is Dallas, Texas. The plane lands. And the pilot comes back on.
He says, ladies and gentlemen, I have some good news. And I have some bad news. The good news is that we have landed in Dallas. The bad news is there are no gates available. And it will be another 45 minutes.
Before we can anticipate pulling up To a gate.
Now needless to say I am spiritually ticked off at this point. Because I had a one hour and 45 minute plan. That has now turned into a seven-hour ordeal. I have been placed On a detour.
Some of you feel like that's the story of your life. You plan to be over here by now. And yet, you're in a holding pattern, and you don't know when this plane called Destiny is going to land. Today, I want to talk to you about how you know it's time to land. How can you know That you're getting off of the detour and onto the main highway of destiny.
Joseph's detour started when he was 17 years old.
So, you teenagers who are here today know that you want to stay close to God while you're young.
So that you don't wind up living a detoured life. And never reaching destiny. Your detour Has an exit. Here it is. When your preparation meets God's purpose.
When your preparation Hooks up with God's purpose. When your time connects with his time, You are now moving from detour to destiny. God is crafting a purpose. while developing a person. When the person is prepared for the purpose, And the purpose is prepared for the person God creates a Hookup.
And the hookup is destiny. The problem occurs When God creates a purpose, And the person is not ready. When they've not allowed the preparation. to prepare them. For the purpose.
So, you have a purpose dangling out here without a ready person to fulfill it. Because preparation has not been allowed to take place, which elongates detour. When we get into our story today, Joseph is going to be 30 years old. We started when he was 17. Chapter 41, 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. Yeah.
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. There are 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.
I know you didn't expect that one. You're expected the hallelujah chorus. Yeah. When God disappoints you, Just when it looked like he was about to deliver you. Let's look at chapter 40.
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 the told the cup bear, you're gonna live, you're not gonna die.
He's given the cupbearer good news. He says, and when you get delivered. Mention me to Pharaoh. Ter Frodo, this is this innocent Hebrew boy still in jail. Get me up out of here, up out of here, up out of here, because 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 HBO'd 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. Yes, yes, we get it. Yet the chief cupbearer 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.
So, how can we change our perspective when it feels like God has disappointed us? Dr. Evans will come back to tell us when he returns in a moment. Stay with us. The Bible makes it clear that you know when God has cursed a land, when its fathers are nowhere to be found.
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exploring how God often uses unexpected and unpredictable circumstances to accomplish His perfect plan. Along with the audio collection, We'll also include Tony's companion book, Detours, The Unpredictable Path to Your Destiny. where he expands on these life-changing principles, And shows how God can even use difficult seasons to prepare you for the future He's designed. We'd like to send you this special package as our thank you gift. when you make a donation to support Tony's ministry.
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I was on the phone with a brother at midnight who was bemoaning circumstances in his life. We went over this principle that when God disappoints you, when it looked like he was going to deliver you, it's really God telling you, get ready for where I'm taking you. And when he discovered that that's how God worked, it didn't change his situation. It did change how he saw it. When it looks like God is going to deliver you and then he turns around and disappoints you, as bad as it feels, it's great that it occurred because God is setting you up for where he's taking you.
Now that raises a question, doesn't it? God, why you want to do me like that? Why you want to set me up and then break my heart? Why you want to make it look like you're getting ready to deliver me and not deliver me? Why do you want it to look like you're going to work it out?
And then don't work it out. Anybody ever been disappointed by God? You thought God was going to work it out, and then it just happened just the opposite. Look like you were on the verge of it. And God disappoints you.
Right, that feels bad. But actually, it is good.
Now let me tell you why. When God takes you to your destiny, He doesn't want to share the credit with you. He doesn't want to share the credit. With the people you know, the contact you have, the money you have, the clout you have, the notoriety you have, the power you have, the background you have, the prestige you have.
So he wouldn't let Joseph's contact with the cupbearer be the means of his deliverance so that the cupbearer couldn't take the credit and Job couldn't take the credit for knowing the cupbearer.
So God let him get to the edge, think he had a hookup. Back him up! Just to let him know, it ain't gonna be through the human method you fought. It's not going to be just because you did somebody a favor, and now you got somebody indebted to you.
So now you think that somebody indebted to you is going to deliver you. No, because this thing is about me, I'm going to leave your hookup out of this.
So Cupbearer ain't even gonna remember your name. Even after you were responsible for giving him the message of deliverance. Because when God wants to do His thing in your life, He wants to have all the glory. And he wants to get all the notoriety. 2 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul says, God took us to the point of death.
so that we would learn not to trust in ourselves. but to trust in the only one who can raise the dead. God does bring you to the point.
Now, I know you got this statement. Let me correct it. Let me fix it up because we've all said it and it's wrong. God will not put more on you than you can bear. All right, let's get that straight.
The Bible don't say that. There is a time when God will put more on you than you can bear. And the time he will put more on you than you can bear is when he wants to strip you of you. When he wants to break a brother or sister down of your self-dependence, your self-sufficiency, your independence, he will wear you down until you cry, uncle. Until there is total dependency on him.
So, one of the reasons some of us have not gotten off of our detour is we're still too self-sufficient. We still feel like we can handle it ourselves. We know the right people. We have the right money. We work the right job.
We got the right hookup. And we think because we got this human ability, human talent, human contact, human resources. And then we just throw in a little prayer to make it seem spiritual. It is when God disappoints you. Just when it looked like he was coming through for you.
In order to increase your dependency. on him and not you. But that's good news. Because 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 skits you. 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. Joseph is 30 before all this is going to come about, this is getting ready to 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 this detour. He finally looked like he getting ready to be delivered. And the cup bear forgets all about him. And he stuck there for two years. He's sitting on the tarmac.
For two years. Not knowing when this plane is gonna ever take off. Yesterday when we were on the tarmac, there was a brief discussion about leaning to my own understanding, namely getting off the plane, catching a car, getting a car, and driving to Dallas in case we were going to be stuck overnight. Because it is very tempting When God has you on the tarmac, to walk away. Even though he has not given you a way of escape yet.
Joseph is in his cell. He's thinking when the cupbearer leaves, any day now, somebody's going to be knocking on this door because the cupbearer, I just told him, he's going to tell Pharaoh and Pharaoh gonna want to meet me and all that, and I'm going to be found innocent. And for two years, he's got to wait for a knock that doesn't happen. But two years later, Pharaoh has a dream. Joseph has never met Pharaoh.
He'd 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 corn and seven ears of corn, tiny corn, eating the good corn. And he can't figure this out. I got cows eating cows and corn eating corn 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 meet Pharaoh. But the dream happens on the notes.
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 at all. Or if you use them, apologize. after you use them. That is luck.
Chance. or fate. Luck, chance, or fate 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 drops 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. Wh 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. Verse 8.
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. Pharaoh called the professionals, the creme de la creme. He called the magicians and the smart folk.
Called the wise men. He got the smartest people around. Said, 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. Dr. Tony Evans, reminding us that the answers of life.
can only be found in the Author of Life. He'll have more for us on this subject to morrow. In the meantime, be sure to look into getting Tony's current resource package, featuring the complete nine-message series Joseph Detours to Destiny. These messages will help you understand that even when life seems to have stalled or gone completely off course. God is still directing your steps and working toward His purpose for your life.
The collection includes today's message, along with additional material we won't have time to present on the air. And for a limited time, when you request the audio series with your donation to support Tony's ministry. Will also include his companion book, Detours, The Unpredictable Path to Your Destiny. Just visit tonyevans.org for all the details. Or call us at 1-800-800-3222.
Again, that's one eight hundred eight hundred three two two two. or online at Tony Evans dot org. Dr. Evans says a lot of what we consider random events in life aren't random at all, but part of a design. It's an enlightening look at the biblical concept of providence.
That's coming up tomorrow. Be sure to join us.
