Destined for Victory

Paul Sheppard: Pray for your leaders. Don't just pray for the ones you like. In fact, I suggest you pray harder for the ones you don't like. Pray harder for them. Oh God, save them, do something with them Jesus.

Guest (Male): We don't have to agree with our nation's leaders, but we are called to respect them and to pray for them. Hello and welcome to Destined for Victory, featuring Pastor Paul Sheppard. Always a pleasure to have you with us.

The book of Romans explains how we as believers in Christ should conduct ourselves in three key areas: personally, socially, and civically. That last one may be the toughest, but that's what God asks us to do. We're told to honor, respect, and pray for our nation's leaders, even if we don't agree with their political or spiritual views.

Today's message from Romans is straight ahead. Online you'll find us at pastorpaul.net where you can listen to Destined for Victory on demand. That's pastorpaul.net. I also encourage you to subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you enjoy your podcasts. Now, here's today's Destined for Victory message, Citizens of Two Kingdoms.

Paul Sheppard: We being citizens of a second kingdom, a higher kingdom, are called to recognize that we must honor God as we deal with governing authorities. So he says we do it not only to avoid the penalty, the punishment of being a criminal, but we do it to have a clear conscience before our God.

Now, we live in a society unlike the church at Rome. In the church at Rome, you had no say. You had no vote. Caesar spoke and that was it. The Roman government had their own system of doing things. The law would come down and that was it. You had no recourse.

But we live in a society where you have a vote, where you have some say, where if someone is corrupt, ideally if enough people see that and vote them out, you can get better leadership. And so what should we do? We should exercise our right. Christians ought to vote. We ought to vote. If they give you a say, say something. Don't have a say and won't speak. Speak up with your vote.

Go on in and don't say, well, I don't know who to vote for. Well, find the lesser of the evils then. Come on. Because yes, there are those elections that come around where you just say, oh, I got problems with him because of this, I got problems with him because of that, got problems with her because of this. And you kind of don't know what. Well, pray for wisdom. Look at the issues. Gather the facts. Do some fact-finding.

And since you've been given a vote, let your vote be heard. Let your voice be heard through your vote and express here's what I believe is the wisest of all the possible choices for our society. We have that privilege. But when it's all said and done, if folk are in control that you don't like, you still owe.

He says you still owe taxes. Don't be a Christian tax evader. Come on. Paul said no, you want to live with a clear conscience. And don't say, well see, I'm not paying because they're not doing right with the money. Well notice, the Bible didn't say pay taxes if you think they're doing right with the money. He said pay taxes because you want to have a clear conscience before God.

If the tax rate is too high, vote in some folk who have a value to help change that bureaucracy. But if they can't get it done, you stay within the bounds of the law, Paul is saying, in order to have a clear conscience before God. And you know what that means? That means you have to learn to walk by faith. Because when you see all that money leaving, it really is meant to renew your faith and your trust in God.

Because you say, God, I don't even like what they're doing with the money and look at how much they took. Next time you get a check, look at what you really earned and then look at how much came out. Or if you're self-employed, look at what they tell you is the estimated tax that you're supposed to pay quarterly in order for you to stay ahead of the tax bill.

And it'll blow your mind. And so if you're one of those who believe in a flat rate, I'm just going to pay the rate that I believe... Well, if that's not the going rate, your problem is you're going to owe some more money. And so what you have to learn to do, Paul is suggesting, is pay your taxes.

And if you've got to believe God, Lord, I really don't like what they're doing and they're leaving me short at the same time. Well God, they're not my source. My job isn't my source anyway. You're my source. And when you see me doing right and paying what I owe, then I'm trusting you to meet every need that I have. And somebody can testify that when you live that way, God will meet every need.

They take out too much money, you say, well, that's all right. I serve a God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills. God can put a coin in a fish's mouth. If he can do that, he can sure take care of me. And so we have to learn really to walk by faith. That's the principle by which we give generously and sacrificially into the kingdom of God.

See, God doesn't charge it like a tax. When people preach tithing like a tax, you miss the point. God doesn't charge a tax in the kingdom. You've got to give 10 percent or more of your money. It's not a got-to, it's a want-to. God, I want to express my love and appreciation for you as the giver of every good and perfect gift. I want to show that your kingdom is more important to me than anything on this earth.

And so I gladly give 10, 15, 20 percent. Some are called to give more. Whatever God tells you to do, you do it from a heart of gratitude and you do it trusting God that he will indeed supply every need. So Paul says, as a matter of conscience, pay your tax. He says if you owe revenue, pay revenue.

And if you owe respect, non-material, non-financial things can be owed. If you owe respect, give respect. If you owe honor, give honor. It troubles me when Christians are rude and disrespectful as they talk about leaders. Whether it's spiritual leaders or governmental leaders or all, if you disagree with a person or their policies or their values or their lifestyle or whatever, there's a respectful way to talk to them and to talk about them.

It does not glorify God when you sound like a mean, cantankerous person, so busy trying to stand for right until you sound wrong trying to sound right. And so we ought to be respectful. If you're a Republican and a Democrat's in charge, you owe that leader respect. If you're a Democrat and the Republicans are in charge, you owe that leader respect. You don't sit there as a child of God and say, "They think I'm going to stand up?"

No, glorify God. He says if you owe honor and respect. Well, people need to deserve respect. That's not what the Bible said. You don't give respect because it is deserved in the sense of you like everything about them. You give it because it is your civic responsibility to show that you're living in submission under God to governing authorities. And when they are corrupt, you leave them to God.

The church prayed for Caesar. The church prayed for corrupt Rome. They prayed for those people because they knew that they were going to be under divine judgment unless they repented. I want to let you know that it's still true today. Pray for your leaders. Don't just pray for the ones you like.

In fact, I suggest you pray harder for the ones you don't like. Pray harder for them. Oh God, save them, do something with them Jesus. Turn them around. Show them your plan. Convict them for the things that they support that are clearly against your Word. Oh God, send a Christian into their life who can let their light shine. Not act nasty, but let their light shine. Pray for them. If you owe them respect, give it. If you owe honor, give it.

And he says we're called to do that civically. Now what are we called to do socially? Look at what he goes on to say. He talks about living by the law of love. He says let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love one another. I love that. He says we ought to pay every debt we owe.

Even if you file bankruptcy in our system, there are some circumstances under which you can do that, get yourself sort of a fresh start and get things cleaned up. But the bottom line is if you owe, it is a good idea, although you're not even legally required in many cases, it is a good idea to pay your debts and to say, "Yeah, I needed some time, I needed some forgiveness to get on my feet, but as best I can I want to honor every commitment I've made."

Because I want God to be pleased with my life. And so sometimes that means even though you might have a freedom, you don't want to take it to the point where your conscience is violated. And if the Lord speaks to your heart about the fact that he wants you to go back and make good on some past debts, then that's what you do.

And you do it knowing that if you do the right thing in secret, God will reward you openly. He says don't have any debt except to love one another. For he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law. And so he says we have not only a civic responsibility, we have a social responsibility and that is to love our neighbor.

And look at the point he makes. He says the commandments, and he just lists some of them from the Ten Commandments. He says they are all summed up in this one rule: love your neighbor as yourself. And he says love does not do harm to its neighbor. In fact, it is the fulfillment of the law.

When you think about it, if you're walking in love then adultery won't happen. If you're walking in love then murder won't happen. If you're walking in love then coveting will not happen. And so he says all of the law that helps us govern our lives as we walk with one another... Under the old covenant they gave you all kind of laws and statutes and ordinances. He says under the new covenant it's wrapped up in one sentence: love your neighbor like you love yourself.

Don't do to someone else what you wouldn't want done to you. Don't have a double standard where you have certain freedoms but you hold other people to strict rules. He says love your neighbor just like you love yourself. You treat yourself well, well treat other people well also. And we have a responsibility. And now remember the love of which the Word of God speaks is a love that isn't because of. You don't love people because you like them. You love people sometimes despite not liking things about them.

Guest (Male): Don't go away. The rest of today's Destined for Victory message featuring Pastor Paul Sheppard is coming right up. In John 8:32 Jesus said that the truth could set us free. That's why Destined for Victory is here: to share timeless truth for a victorious life and to show as best we can that Jesus Christ is exactly who he claimed to be. You can help keep these messages coming your way by sending a generous gift today. Stop by pastorpaul.net to make that safe and secure donation online. That's pastorpaul.net. Or call 855-339-5500. Well, if you love those who love you or if you love those with whom you agree, what have you really done? Jesus calls us to a higher standard. Now let's listen closely to the rest of today's Destined for Victory message, Citizens of Two Kingdoms.

Paul Sheppard: You've got to love people whose attitude you don't like. Have any of those in your life? Think about it now. Family, co-workers, neighbors. Think about it. There's a whole lot of people in your life and there are things about them you don't like. Well, you're called to love them despite what you don't like. I don't love you just because I get along with you well. Who can't do that?

In fact, that's what Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount. If you love people who love you, so what? Everybody does that. He says I'm looking for a people who know how to love unlovely people. I'm looking for folk who know how to love cantankerous people. I'm looking for people who know how to love folk so well until they think you have an angle. You can love people until they say, "Okay now wait, why are you treating me this well?"

See, they're suspicious because they know all the dirt they've done. They know folk ought to be coming for them. And here you come along treating them good and take good care of... You need any more? You got everything you need? Oh. You'll scare them. And you know that's what he said when he wrapped up the end of Romans chapter 12. He said you can love people so well until you heap burning coals on their heads.

What's that mean? That means conviction. They just feel like, "I know I don't deserve this and I'm trying to figure out why they're giving me what I don't deserve." I want to encourage somebody to love people in your life well. I want to encourage... If you have people in your family, love them well. People who haven't been getting along well with the rest of the family.

You now are a citizen of two kingdoms. You need to have the grace to come on along and to love that brother or sister, that wayward one, that black sheep in the family. You ought to be the one to come along and say, "I care about you, I want to let you know I have your best interest at heart. I want to let you know that I'm not throwing you away. God can still get something done in your life."

Now love isn't foolish. I said that many times. It's important because sometimes in our desire to do what's right we can become foolish. You don't trust people who aren't trustworthy. You give people as much trust as they can handle. And if they show they can't handle it, believe them. They can't handle it. I would trust you more but you can't handle it.

But I'll do as much as I can to let you know I have your best interest at heart. Even when love has to be tough, it's still love. You don't throw people away because God didn't throw you away. You know what'll help you love folk right? Your memory. Your memory ought to help you a lot when it comes to loving folk. Just stop and think about all God has put up with in you. Watch this: not just past but present.

Where are the areas where you still don't have your act together? God been dealing with you now not only for days, not for weeks, not for months, he been dealing with some of the junk in your heart for years. And he hasn't thrown you away. He's convicting but he's not throwing you away. Well, if God can do that for you, surely you can do that on his behalf for somebody else.

And so he's telling us to love our neighbor. Not the neighbors we pick, not our little special band of neighbors, but love them if they live in proximity to you, love them. And it's not just physical proximity. If they're in your sphere of influence, on your job, in your family, in your community, in your church, love people. When they get on your nerves, love them.

Love them enough to not dwell on the things about them you don't like. See, whatever you dwell on, you blow it up. If you give a thing attention, you magnify it. So if you know a person works your nerves about certain things, quit thinking about it. Think about it as little as possible. Deal with it as little as possible and say, "God give me the grace to love them anyhow."

And so he tells us about our social responsibility and then he closes the chapter by telling us about our personal responsibility before God. He says we have to live recognizing that night is almost over, day is breaking. And he's using this as an analogy for the Lord is about to come.

Now, of course, Paul like saints through all ages lived with a sense of the imminent return of Christ. Every generation is called to do that because we don't know when the day or hour is coming. I've told you some of these crazy people out here try to predict when the Lord's coming. If you see somebody writing a book and "I've now nailed it down to when Jesus is coming," don't even buy it. They don't know.

Bible says you don't know the day or the hour. I heard one person say, "Yeah, but we can know the week and the month." There's a Greek word for that: baloney. You don't know the day, the hour, the week, the month, the year, the generation. But you do know his coming, Paul said, is nearer than it's ever been before. We do know it's closer than ever before.

You know the story of the little boy who was watching his grandfather in his clock shop and grandfather was setting the various clocks to chime. And very, very young grandson he had with him. So he figured... And he taught him how to count by the chimes. And so he figured he'd play with him and set one clock to chime 13 times.

And after the boy understood that time went from one hour to the twelfth hour, he said, "All right, I'll see what he's going to do with this," and he set one to chime 13 times. And then he asked his grandson, "All right, what time is it?" Little boy thought for a moment after he heard the 13 chimes. He said, "I don't know but it's later than it's ever been before."

And I want to let you know, you don't know and I don't know when Jesus is coming, but we know in terms of earthly time it's later than it's ever been before. My Lord, when you look at what's going on out here in this crazy world, you say, "God, you can't be far off." I mean, we are setting new records of craziness now.

And so he says day is about to break. So what's our personal responsibility? He says day is about to break, but you are to take off those deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Behave, look at what he calls it, decently. Folk, there is such a thing as decent behavior. Our parents were right when they said act like you've got some sense. There are some things that are just right. It's decent, it's proper, it's right. Act like somebody raised you.

People acting like they were raised by wolves. Some things are just right. They're just decent. It's not old-fashioned, it just makes sense. Teach your children: put on decent clothes. That's not decent. Well, it's the style. It's an indecent style. You can look nice, you can look trendy without going to some indecent place. And if you can't follow a certain trend and stay decent, then leave that trend alone.

He said behave decently as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness. He's just giving some examples of the kind of craziness that went on in his world and certainly goes on in ours. Not in sexual immorality and debauchery. That's just filthy living. And the Lord knows and you know that there's filthy living going on all over.

And then I love it, I love it. He doesn't just... Because you know he knows us, we'll get self-righteous in a hurry. That's right. Amen. That's right, folk just filthy, just dirty. He knows how we do. So look at what he does. He says, and while we're talking about it, dissension and jealousy. He threw them in right there with the filthiness and the orgies and stuff.

He said if you got a running feud with somebody, you ought to be as ashamed of yourself as the person participating in orgies. He says it's not godly. You ought to settle your differences. You ought to love people enough to say you're sorry, squash that argument, stop having a running feud, quit acting like everybody got to treat you the way you want to be treated or else you're going to raise holy hell. There is no such thing.

Jealousy. He said if you are busy being jealous of other people, you're out of the will of God. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You know why? Because God is the owner of all of our lives. He's the only one in the universe who has a right to truly be jealous, for we are his. Nothing else do you have real ownership of. And so jealousy shouldn't characterize the child of God. Other people are going to do what they're going to do.

You pray about it, you leave them to God. You don't take it as a personal matter that you're going to handle and get into all kinds of wrong attitudes with other people. There are people you don't trust, you don't trust them, but you keep your attitude right toward them. You make sure that your attitude is one that reflects the presence of God in your life.

And he wraps it up by saying here's what you want to do: clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ. What's that mean? That means, that means don't just have Jesus on the inside. We love talking about Jesus on the inside. No, he needs to work on the outside. Jesus does the world no good when he's tucked in your heart somewhere. Put on Jesus until people look at your life and say, "That person has to walk with God." Look at the way they talk, look at the way they behave, look at the way they respect authority, look at the way they handle their differences with others, look at the way they avoid immoral living. They must know Jesus. And he says in this way we bring God glory and we reflect his goodness and his grace in our lives.

Guest (Male): I hope that that's your heart's desire today: to bring honor and glory to Jesus Christ. As the Lord himself said, no one lights a lamp and then hides it under a bushel. Let us boldly shine the light of Jesus Christ so that the world cannot mistake it for anything else. Thanks so much for being here with us for today's Destined for Victory. Remember, any of our recent messages, including the one you heard today, are available on demand at our website, pastorpaul.net. While you're there, be sure to check out our online store for some great resources to help you grow in your Christian faith, including books and video messages from Pastor Paul Sheppard. It's all at pastorpaul.net.

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Paul Sheppard: Men will always be men. Women will always be women. Thank God. Thank God. You might think you want your spouse to be exactly like you in every way, but that's not why God gave us the concept of marriage.

Guest (Male): You'll hear that next time in our message, Can't We All Just Get Along? I hope you'll join us. Until then, remember: he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.