Destined for Victory

Paul Sheppard: And I've come to tell you that he is there with you. Don't worry about the fact that you don't see him in the circumstances. You don't have to see God in the circumstances. God is at work, even if behind the scenes, even if you don't see him. He's there.

Guest (Male): Think of your life as a Hollywood movie with you as lead actor and God as director. Hello and thanks for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory, where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Sheppard. Make no mistake, God is always acting. He's at work. He's making things happen. But he's doing it from the other side of the camera.

And as you'll see today, no matter what scene of life you find yourself in, God is at work behind the scenes. And he's promised you that nothing can separate you from his love, not even your own mistakes. Don't forget, you can listen to any recent message on demand, including today's at our website, which is pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net. I also encourage you to subscribe to the podcast at Spotify or wherever you enjoy your podcasts. Now, let's listen closely to Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message, God Behind the Scenes.

Paul Sheppard: Whatever you're blessed with, God gave it to you. Whatever's good in your life, it's not you, it's the Lord. He gave you the strength. He gave you the intelligence. He gave you the know-how. He gave you whatever it is. I saw a man interviewed not long ago on television, some brilliant biologist and what have you, and they were saying with all of the things that you have discovered and all that you're doing, the interviewer said, I just wonder, do you believe in God? And he said, oh no, not at all.

He thought that he was the instrument of his own intelligence and he was his own brilliance and what he said, no, no, this universe is just a series of, he called it software that various things have come together. And really the key to our explorations and all is just discovering the right points of software, very much like in the computer world. When we find that in the geological world and just write those right programs, then we find all of this out. And I sat there and I remembered the scripture that says, a fool hath said in his heart there is no God. You can be intelligent and dumb at the same time.

How do you live in an orderly universe and think nobody ordered it? You know you can't have order without intelligence ordering it. Just look at your house. Your rooms don't get in order. My goodness, look how neat this room is. I don't know what happened. Sure you know what happened. Somebody went in there and ordered it. Without intelligence, all you have is chaos. And the Bible says the heavens declare the glory of God. But some people don't know it, and Xerxes was full of himself.

And so he had this six months display of his splendor followed by seven days straight of partying. Well, what happened after that is in verses we didn't read. After that, then he really started tripping and he said, I want my wife to come in here and I want to show off how beautiful she is to all these nobles. He had a banquet just for the nobles and the upper echelon. And he wanted his wife, Queen Vashti, to come in. And he wanted to display her beauty before them.

Now, it is very clear in the context, although it's not specifically stated, it is very clear that what he wanted to do was to have an inappropriate display of how beautiful she was. So we're not talking about just merely, oh, come on in, baby, and let everybody just see you. No, this wasn't just a come on in, baby. This was a come on in and show off your assets. You all with me? Help me now. I need to preach PG, so let's help me. Okay. This is a showing off. This is beyond just coming with your best dress on, wave at the folks and go.

He is drunk. He is out of his mind. He is full of himself. And now he wants to show off his wife in an inappropriate way. And contrary to everything women were supposed to do in that day and especially the queen, she said, I ain't coming. That's the Paul Sheppard version, but that's pretty much, I ain't coming. Tell him I said I'm not going to be there. Well, when he got that word, he couldn't believe it. She had never said no to him before.

And the nobles around him said, King, you can't let this happen because if Queen Vashti can say no to you, you know what our wives are going to say to us? Read your Bible. It is right comical in places. This is Chapter 2 now of Esther. They're saying, no, we can't do this. Latter part of Chapter 1. We can't have this. King, you've got to handle this. Now, I don't know what you're going to do, but you need to do something.

And finally, somebody said, King, you know what? You need to dethrone her because if you let her maintain her status as queen and it is known throughout the empire that she defied you, you're going to have a whole lot of unhappy homes. And this can't happen. King said, fellas, you're right. And he dethroned his wife. He took the crown off her head, sent her out of his presence and said, you are to no longer enter my presence for the rest of your life. She's gone. Then in Chapter 2, after he gets sober, Chapter 2, he gets sober. He sobers up. He said, man, that was a rough seven days.

Sobers up and he says, I don't have a wife. I can't be a king without a queen. I need a queen. He said, so you all got to help me find a queen. And they took a sort of America's Next Top Model approach. They really did. They took a sort of Next Top Model approach in that they went throughout the empire and did an open call, so to speak. Not technically open, but people had to go around and find the most beautiful young virgins.

This is a pagan king. There's nothing holy about his style of decision making or anything. He just like, go find me somebody fine. And he goes throughout the kingdom, sends people and as they find a beautiful young virgin, they say, come, the king wants you as part of his harem and what have you. And they gathered the most beautiful young virgins they could find throughout the empire. It was the most elaborate process because the women who were selected to be in the running towards becoming Persia's next queen had 12 months of beauty treatments before they saw the king.

Read it. Esther Chapter 2 around verse 13, 14 in there. 12 months, sisters, of beauty treatments. 12 months of spa. 12 months of nothing but beautifying themselves in preparation for a single interview with the king. And after a full year of the finalists going through that beauty treatment, we're told each one got to see the king and if he liked her or not, he had the power to call her back into his presence again. If not, it was one and done. Long story short, bottom line, guess who became queen?

A young Jewish girl chosen centuries before, designated by God to be the nation through which he would introduce into the world the Messiah who would save both Jew and Gentile. The Jewish people are precious to God in Old Testament times, are still precious to God today. Paul makes that clear in his writings to the book of Romans. God has not forsaken his Old Testament people just because Christ came. He didn't say, okay, the Messiah came, I'm done with you. They are still God's people.

But thank God they're not God's people alone. Now we Gentiles who have said yes to Christ and surrendered to him also are designated the people of God. I'm glad he included me in the plan of salvation. But I'm saying this to say the Jewish nation has always been special to God and remains so. And of all of the people who went through the process, it is a young Jewish girl named Hadassah, or otherwise known as Esther, became queen. You say, Pastor, what's that about? She became queen not because Xerxes ordained it. She became queen because God ordained it.

Guest (Male): Still ahead, the second half of today's Destined for Victory message with Pastor Paul Sheppard. If you're new to the program, we want you to know that we've archived all of our recent messages at our website, pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net. Listen and subscribe to the podcast at Spotify, at Apple Podcasts, or wherever you enjoy your podcasts. Our mission at Destined for Victory is to serve you and all our listeners by sharing timeless truth for a victorious life. And one of the reasons we're able to do it is because of your prayers and financial support. You're invited to prayerfully consider making a generous gift to Destined for Victory today. Call 855-339-5500 to make your gift over the phone, or give safely and securely at pastorpaul.net. Now, let's get you back to the rest of today's Destined for Victory message, God Behind the Scenes.

Paul Sheppard: Xerxes thought he made a decision based on the Lord is my shepherd, I see who I want. From his vantage point, he thinks he's making his own decision. He's the one that showed off for six months in a way that wouldn't please God, but he's a pagan king. He doesn't even know Jehovah. He's not interested in pleasing him. Six months he shows off outside of the will of God. Seven days he has a drunken series of banquets, a seven-day party outside of the will of God, acting like a fool.

Calls his wife in in an inappropriate way, acting like a fool. And finally has to dethrone her in order to preserve his standing as the one in charge. But as a puppet master behind the scenes, God is working through all of his fleshliness, all of his wrong decision making. God says, I have a plan. I have ordained a young woman who is called according to my purpose to be queen in a pagan society. And later on we're going to find as we move through the book, the reason why God has ordained this is because his people are going to be subject to severe persecution.

In fact, genocide will take place unless there is divine intervention. And God has ordained that they can't wipe out my people. Why? Because they are my people. And so whatever the plan is, whoever comes as an enemy to try to destroy my people, they're barking up the wrong tree because I have set my affection upon them. I have called them and I am the only one who will deal with their end. And so he is setting something up by having Esther selected as the queen.

I say that to say, by way of introduction, and I will unpack this as we move along, God is at work. You don't see his name. You're dealing with pagans. You're dealing with folk acting crazy. You're dealing with a situation where holy people wouldn't even think God would have anything to do with Persia. But I'm here to tell you, when you are called according to God's purpose and you are called according to God's purpose who know Christ as your savior, I want to let you know God is at work in your life, even when you've got crazy, drunken folk in your life.

Even when you have ridiculous acting people in your life. Even when you have folk making fleshly decisions in your life. Even when your children are acting like the devil raised them. Even when on the job your boss is making ridiculous orders of all of you and expectations of you. Whatever the case might be, whoever you're dealing with, however outside of God's will they are, you are called according to God's purpose and he has his hand upon you. And even though you might not understand why all this craziness is going on, I showed up to tell you God is at work.

He's behind the scenes. He's like the director of a play. He's not on the stage, but he doesn't have to be on the stage. He's God and he's behind the scenes working things out according to his purpose. See, too often we are looking for where is God in this? I don't see God in this situation. You don't have to see God in the situation. He's at work whether you see him or not. See, when we're called according to God's purpose, we belong to him. He said, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you.

Now folks, we've got to get to the place where we believe what God said. He said, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I will be with. The bottom line is when God marries you, he's not giving you a divorce. You can act crazy if you want to. He's not giving you a divorce. In fact, when you act crazy, all you do is bring craziness into your own life. But God says, I'm here to the very end. I began a good work. I'm going to finish it.

And I've come to tell you that he is there with you. Don't worry about the fact that you don't see him in the circumstances. You don't have to see God in the circumstances. God is at work, even if behind the scenes, even if you don't see him. He's there. David discovered that when David said in Psalm 139 beginning at verse 7, where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me. Your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you. The night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. You created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well.

He said in verse 15, my frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. You know what that means? That means God is there. Care where you are. I'm in China. They don't believe in God. There's no border that can keep God out. God doesn't need a passport. He doesn't need a visa. You can't stop him at the border and say, excuse me, we don't believe in you here. You can't.

God is everywhere. He has a vibrant church in China. More vibrant than the church in America because those folk are laying their lives on the line to surrender to the will of God and God is blessing them in marvelous ways. And here we are with Bibles all around the house we won't read. Meanwhile, people there are being persecuted, placed in jail for years for even possessing a Bible. And I'm telling you, you can't keep God out.

Can't keep him out of any situation. Can't keep him out of any circumstance. He's not so offended that he says, I can't deal with you. I can't deal with the people you deal with. We need to leave here assured that even when we don't see him, he's there. Even when you don't understand why life is happening the way it is, he's there. Even when you get into that zone, and we'll see it more and more as we move through this book, when you get into those zones where you say, Lord, if you're here, what up with this?

What up with my enemies? Even David who just wrote this section of Psalm 139 that I just read, he said in verse 19, now God, if only you would slay the wicked. See, when he got through reminding himself that God is everywhere, you think that's just a wonderful, victorious declaration. No, he was reminding himself. He was speaking to himself. He was encouraging himself. And God used him to encourage us down through the centuries. He was reminding himself God is everywhere.

But then three verses later in verse 19 of Psalm 139, he said, if only you would slay the wicked, oh God. I know you hear, but what up with these people still being alive? How come you haven't killed them? See, some of you want to act too holy. You know you've been through seasons in your life. And if you haven't, my grandmother said, just keep on living. That's what she said all my just keep on living.

You haven't gone through it yet, but it's coming. My grandmother used to say, I'm coming back from where you're going. See, you better listen to me, boy. I'm coming down the lane. I'm trying to tell you what's up ahead of you. You young and think you know everything. Don't know anything. You still wet behind the ear. Oh, when you started those old folk, they got on you. Still got milk on your breast. And those folk would teach us just keep on living. You're going to run into a season where you say, Lord, this makes no sense at all. How can you be here and I'm your child and you're letting all this hell break out in my life?

What up with that? What up with these enemies? Why aren't you killing these folks? Just wipe them out, God. You see what they doing to me? And God for that season didn't wipe them out and he was still with David and he is still with you. Crazy relatives and all. Crazy work situation and all. Unemployment and all. Trying to figure out what the next step is in your life and all. Praying prayers that you're not seeing answered and all. God is at work. He has not taken a break.

Guest (Male): You know, life like the movies will often be filled with tension, with conflict. Your supporting actors may flub their lines, the antagonist may rise up against you. But the Lord is always there behind the scenes directing your steps and because of him you are destined for victory. Thanks so much for being here with us for today's message, God Behind the Scenes. Before we say so long, our executive director, Alicia Greer, wants to express her gratitude to you, our listening friends and partners. Alicia.

Alicia Greer: Thank you so much to everyone who responded to our appeal. We are so grateful for your support. We're not all the way out of the woods yet, but I can say that your support has helped and we're so grateful for all of you who are continuing to support the ministry. You know, my dad often quoted Philippians 1:6 that talks about God being faithful to complete the work that he has begun in us. And I just know that God is faithful to complete the work that he began in Destined for Victory. That work did not end when my father passed. And I have every hope and confidence that God is going to see the work through. And so we're excited to continue to move forward and we're so grateful for your support.

Guest (Male): All of us at Destined for Victory are so thankful to all of you who listen to these messages and who so generously support our media ministry with your prayers and gifts. And as you heard Alicia say just now, with your help, our plan is to continue to bring timeless truth for a victorious life for many years to come. Should you choose to make a generous gift today, we have a great resource to send as our way of saying thanks, our latest booklet, You Are So Loved.

This is an honest, deeply personal booklet about the most important questions we'll ever face. Does my life matter and is there a God who actually cares about me? This is a must read for anyone who wrestles with these questions. So if you have a friend or loved one who may need to hear this kind of gospel presentation, please contact us today to get your copy of You Are So Loved. Again, it's called You Are So Loved and it's our gift to you today by request for your generous gift to Destined for Victory. If you'd like to give, we have options for you.

Stop by pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. Call us at 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-5500. Or if you prefer, you can mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California, 94538. Well, a friend of yours might do you a favor, but only God can give you favor. Here's Pastor Paul.

Paul Sheppard: When you are a child of God, the favor that is ordained for your life does not come from men. You're going to have to get this straight. Ask God to give you this revelation. The favor God has ordained for your life is not coming from men. It's coming through men, but it's coming from God.

Guest (Male): That's tomorrow in our message, The Favor Factor. Until then, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.