Your Future and Your Calling

Your greatest faithfulness will be learned in the dark. Dr. Tony Evans says when you can't see where you're going, it's time to trust God's leading. I know it may be unclear where God is taking you.

Hold on, because when God moves, you'll know it. Celebrating 40 years of faithfulness, this is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans. Author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of The Urban Alternative. Tomorrow can be a scary destination—dark, uncertain, unknown. But today, Dr. Evans talks about the promises you can depend on, even when the future seems unclear.

Let's join him. Your calling refers to your customized purpose for being, the reason God put you here. And no matter where you come into this ad, where you're starting, you simply start where you are, pursuing God's purpose for your life. Even though it may be foggy outside, you may be a little unclear where exactly God wants you.

That's okay. Maybe you veered off a year or two, or maybe a decade or two. You start where you are. I have talked to any number of people who are living with a sense of hopelessness. Am I ever going to get to where I'm supposed to be? Am I ever going to get it right?

Is life ever going to work for me? They've lost the sense of hope. One little boy said, Hope is wishing for something that you know you're never going to get.

And that's what a lot of folks feel. They've been looking for this and that. This experience, that experience, this sense of destiny.

They just can't seem to get it. Well, my sermon for the day is taken from one verse. That is, the core is one verse. It's just to encourage you as you move on in the journey. Jeremiah 29 verse 11, For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare or well-being or good, not for calamity or bad or evil, to give you a future and to give you a hope.

Now, you ought to feel a little better right now. I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Now, I know somebody is saying, I'm glad somebody knows them.

I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. And let me tell you this much. They're not for bad. They're for good. I am going to give you a future, a tomorrow, and a hope. You ever seen people who've lost their hope? You lose your hope because you don't see a future. Yesterday was bleak, today is bleak, and tomorrow doesn't look any better. The weather report for your life says no sunshine. There's nothing out there that looks like it has your number on it related to purpose and calling and destiny.

It is dark and the sun's not shining, cloudy. In the midst of that misery, pain, you can almost tell people who have lost their hope. It's different having a problem.

All of us have problems. I'm talking about lost your hope. There's no way out. You don't see any break in the clouds. There's no lining, no nothing out there. They're forlorn, live in perpetual depression, not a momentary lapse, but depression in perpetuity. This verse is found in a bad chapter. This is not a great verse in a great chapter. This is a great verse in a bad chapter.

So if you're having a bad life, this is a good verse. Israel is in captivity in Babylon. Verse 4 in the chapter says, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent in the exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. This verse is to people who have been placed in exile in judgment for rebelling against God. They're under the disciplining hand of God for their sins. They're being spanked, if you will.

They're there day after day, month after month, and year after year, and there is no solution in sight. To make it worse, the place where they are being incarcerated, their circumstance, is as pagan as you can get. Babylon is not where the Christians hung out. This was pagan, evil, idolatrous.

It was a terrible place to have to live, especially if you were an Israelite. So they're being judged for their sins, they're in a pagan land, and on top of all that, the Bible says, and the preachers were leading them astray. Verse 8 says, But thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Do not listen to your prophets, who are in your midst, and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream. For they prophesy falsely to you in my name, and I have not sent them, declares the Lord. Today, there's a lot of folk out here giving folk false hope in the name of God. He says, they prophesy in my name. Come here, give your tithes, get rich.

You serving God, you're not going to get sick. That's false prophecy. Not true.

Never has been true, and it never will be true. But you see, when people need hope, because all hope is gone, they'll listen about anything. People will listen to anything, because they don't have hope. Because folk don't have hope!

Because when people don't have hope, then they search out of their emptiness and out of their pain. And he says there were false prophets, in this case, who were taking advantage of that and misusing it and abusing it. Of course God heals.

Of course God blesses. That's not what I mean. I mean to give people the impression that serving God means there are no problems.

That's a lie. And they haven't been serving God long. These people are in a desperate situation, negative circumstances, divine discipline, a pagan land, and are being led astray by the prophets. It is in the midst of this hopelessness that verse 11 finds itself. It is in the midst of this discouragement, verse 11 comes.

It's in the midst of this pain, verse 11 shows up. And I know plans I have for you. I know the plans I have for you. I know the plans I have for you. Now why is that important? Because God says, I still have a plan. It's not over.

How do you know God still has a plan for you? Simple. You here.

You can assume I'm right. If you here, the plan is still operative. You say, but you don't know about my past.

Well, they had a bad past. And God says, I know the plans I have for you. Yeah, God, but you don't understand. I don't know the plans you have for me. Your greatest lessons in faith will be learned in the dark. It is when you don't know what in the world God is doing, how he's doing it, why it's taken so long to get it done, when God is ticking you off the most, is when you've got to trust him the more. Because he says, I know something you don't know.

I know the plans I have for you. You've seen a blind person with a dog that's walking by faith. They can't see. They don't know where they're going. They don't know whether they're going to fall off a precipice or not, or trip over a corridor, run into another pedestrian. They've got to believe something. And that is that what the dog sees will be translated, and they will know when to stop by staying connected with the dog.

It's a faith walk. They can't see. But because man's best friend is beside them, and they're holding on with all they got, when dog stops, they stop. When dog moves, they move. But they can't see. Why trust a dog when you can't see?

Because he got where you don't have eyes. I know it may look dark right now. I know it may be unclear exactly where you're headed. I know it may be unclear exactly where God is taking you.

It may be pitch black outside. Hold on, because when God moves, you'll know it. But why does he have me stop at the corner so long? Maybe traffic is coming this way.

I don't know. I don't know why has you stuck, delayed, hindered, but he says, I know the plans I have for you. Even though you're being disciplined, even though you're in a pagan industry, you're in a pagan environment, even though maybe the church isn't doing you right, I know the plans I have for you. Tomorrow I have to get on a plane and go to Indiana. I have an electronic ticket. So basically that means all I do is go up, tell them my name, story's over.

A number of factors have to come together for that to happen. Number one, I have to have a plane that can make this destination. That plane have to have a timetable because they told me when it's leaving and when it's arriving. They've also communicated a price. There is a price for this flight. So I know what it's costing. They've got my name in a computer and they have a route that they're going to take to take me from Dallas to Indiana.

They've got all of this plan. Now let me explain what I'm not going to do. I am not going to the airport and ask them to explain to me how the plane works. You tell me what button you're going to push when and how it works so I can feel secure that this is a workable instrument I'm putting myself on.

Now, you would think I may want to check this out because if it don't work, we in big trouble. But no, I'm not going to do that. I am not going to check on their route that they're going to take, whether they're going this way or that way, or I'm not going to debate with them about how many feet up or down they are.

I'm not going to argue about the timetable. I'm going to assume something. I'm going to assume that whatever airline is I'm taking is big enough, has knowledge enough, has expertise enough, and more importantly, has done it enough that I can simply go, give my name, sit, and chill.

If the plane goes, boom, doesn't bother me because I have gotten on the plane with some certain basic assumptions, and that is that the system that put it together, that got it up there, will get me to where I'm supposed to go. I know the plans I have for you. God has a plan for you. I know you don't know it. The details are obscure.

I know that it's not fully flushed out. I know that all of these things are coming at you right now, and you may want to pull out your hair. In the midst of your confusion, God says, I have a plan, and I know it. He does give you just a little bit of information, though.

Here's what he says. It's plans for welfare, not for calamity. He says it involves a future. It involves your tomorrow, and it's a plan that has hope in it.

That's good news. God has got your tomorrow covered even though you haven't been there yet. He has already scoped out tomorrow, and he has come back to tell you he has the plan for tomorrow already scoped out.

I know it's dark. Don't walk off. I have a future for you.

So what do you mean? You want me to sit back and just do nothing? No, because he spends verses five on telling them, no, no, no, I don't want you to do anything.

I want you to do nothing. He gives them a few things to do. He says, verse five, build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Become as productive as you possibly can. Don't sit and do nothing. Do all that is at your hand to do.

It says, plant gardens and eat their produce. Maximize your potential. All that there is that you can do, all that there is to do, do that. Maximize what is before you and become productive. While you're waiting on God to make your change come, while you're waiting on God to turn things around, maximize the moment, carpe diem, seize this moment. Dr. Evans will continue this look at how our future fits into our calling when he returns in just a moment. First, though, today's teaching is from the final installment of Tony's life-changing series, Called for a Purpose. As we've been hearing, God has a plan for each of us, and embracing that truth is the first step toward discovering God's unique calling for you.

Drop the frustration and move on to a greater joy as you discover your calling through the help of the complete Called for a Purpose audio series, available both on CD and digital download. And when you make a donation today to support the work of The Urban Alternative, we'll say thanks by sending you all 12 messages in this two-volume collection, along with a bonus copy of Tony's popular companion book, Discover Your Destiny, Let God Use You Like He Made You. Just visit tonyevans.org to make your contribution and request.

But this offer ends today, so make your request right away. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or call us at 1-800-800-3222, where team members are standing by around the clock to help with your resource request.

That's 1-800-800-3222. I'll repeat that information for you after part two of today's lesson, and this. How do you share the gospel with confidence? What's God's plan for our communities?

Why does the Old Testament matter to your faith today? Those are just a few of the questions you'll get answered when you enroll in the Tony Evans Training Center, an interactive online study experience with Dr. Tony Evans, where you can grow in your knowledge of God's Word and learn to advance His kingdom agenda in your life. Visit tonyevanstraining.org to get started today.

That's tonyevanstraining.org. A lot of us, while waiting for God, are doing nothing, when there is plenty to do. There's only one time you do nothing, and that is when there's nothing you can do. If there's nothing you can do, you do nothing. But if God has given something at your hand to do, you do it with all of your might. You say, but I don't see where this effort is pulling things off.

That's because you haven't seen the rest of the story. I have a future. I have a hope. He goes on. He says, take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters and take wives for your sons and your daughters and let them bear sons and daughters and multiply there.

Do not decrease. He says, be productive, and then he says, multiply. Become as fruitful as you possibly can, even though you're in a pagan land and even though you've messed up. He says, verse 7, seek the welfare of others. Find out how you can be a blessing. Seek the welfare of the city in which I have sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, in its welfare is your welfare.

That's key. As you are being a blessing, you are setting yourself up to be blessed. As you are being a blessing, one of the reasons we lose hope is because the only person we're concerned about is ourselves. He says in verse 12 and 13, then you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you and you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all of your heart. God said, I have the plans. Don't go looking for the plans. Look for me. I know where I put them. You find me, you'll find the plans. I want to know my calling.

Find me. I know it. I have a plan for you. And I know what it is.

And it's a good one. And it will give you a future and it will give you a hope. God is inviting you to participate with him in the drama of the ages.

You say, I don't like the dark. Can't help you with that because without faith it is impossible to please God. Them that cometh to God must first believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. You don't know which way to go? Seek him. You're in pain? Seek him.

You're confused? Seek him. You're tired of waiting?

Seek him. A lot of us have a picture, but we can't see a plan. So we wonder whether it's going to produce anything. God says, I have the plan. I am the architect and I have built lives before. It's not my first building.

You're not my first project. In fact, you easy compared to some of the dudes I've had to deal with. Sometimes it'll look like God is doing nothing.

Like all state. The good hands people. God has you in his hands. He has you in his heart. And he wants to see the plan of your future burst out before you like you never dreamt possible. He wants you to see your tomorrow like you never knew it could be.

He wants to take yesterday's pain and turn it into tomorrow's joy and he's saying, hold on to my hand and never let it go. Because I know where I'm taking. And it's a good place.

It's a wonderful place. Because it's a future and it's a hope. 20,000 years ago, Jesus Christ put up the payment for the plan. And he who has begun a good work in you shall continue it until the day of redemption. What God starts, God finishes. What God begins, God ends.

What God initiates, God completes. But you say, I'm in a mess. You don't know my mess.

You don't know my God. And if you forget the sermon, remember the verse. I have a plan for you. Not for calamity or bad, but for good.

And it involves your future and it's full of hope. Dr. Tony Evans, with encouragement and a promise from God about your future and your calling, the last in his current series of powerful messages entitled, Called for a Purpose. This two-volume 12-lesson collection will help you find and fulfill God's unique plan for your life. And as I mentioned earlier, if you make a donation today to The Urban Alternative and request the complete series, we'll be happy to send you a bonus along with it, a copy of Tony's popular book, Discover Your Destiny, Let God Use You Like He Made You. This entire package is our thanks to you for your support of Dr. Evans' ministry here on this station and around the world. This offer ends today, so be sure to visit tonyevans.org right away, where you can also sign up for Tony's free weekly email devotional. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or call our 24-hour resource request line at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our friendly team members assist.

That's 1-800-800-3222. Well, as you've heard, The Urban Alternative is celebrating 40 years of ministry this year, and Dr. Evans recently reflected on the Lord's faithfulness. There are so many ways that God has demonstrated His faithfulness to me and to this ministry over these 40 years. You know, there were times when we just weren't sure we were going to make it.

We got down to our last paycheck for our staff. After that, there was no money to pay anyone, and I remember us having a special prayer time and asking God to intervene. And then, out of nowhere, a donor's heart was touched, and they wrote us a note and said, God placed it on my heart to send you this gift, and it was able to sustain us a while longer until we were able to rebuild. I praise God for 40 years of His favor on us. Your support of The Urban Alternative makes possible the important work that continues even today. So again, contact us at 1-800-800-3222 and let us say thanks for your help by sending you called for a purpose and discover your destiny. Again, that's 1-800-800-3222, or you can make the arrangements online at TonyEvans.org. The Declaration of Independence proclaims all humans have the right to pursue happiness. Tomorrow, Dr. Evans explains the only way to find it when it comes to your family is to pursue something else. He'll join us tomorrow as he reveals that most important goal. The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative and is celebrating 40 years of faithfulness thanks to the generous contributions of listeners like you.