Destined for Victory

Guest (Male): Hello and thanks for joining us for Destined for Victory, featuring the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Sheppard. Today, an important message about our total dependence on God. But first, our executive director, Alicia Sheppard Greer, has some news about a special gift reserved for you.

Alicia Sheppard Greer: I'm excited to announce that in June, we are offering for the first time a new compilation of "Let My People Smile" on video. One of the things that many of you really love about my dad's teachings is that he makes learning enjoyable.

Even when the subject matter is convicting, he finds a way to deliver God's word without watering it down at all and yet still make it funny, down-to-earth, and relatable. If you think about it, that's such a rare combo to find these days. So thank you so much for continuing to support this ministry.

So I hope you enjoy this collection of lighthearted teaching clips from his latter years on video. It's available as a thank-you gift to anyone who sends in their most generous donation of $25 or more only in June. God bless you.

Guest (Male): Thanks, Alicia. "Let My People Smile" is Pastor Paul at his very best, combining biblical wisdom with his unique style and humor. And for the first time, we're making it available on video. You can choose from DVD format or a streaming link when you make your most generous donation of $25 or more in June.

If the Lord is leading you to give, we've got several 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.

So what you have to do is humble yourself before the Almighty God and recognize, "Lord, I need you. Without you, I am nothing. Without you, my gifts can never be used for eternity." Just a few short weeks from now, the United States will celebrate 250 years of national independence, but today on Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard, the subject is our individual dependence.

In John 15:5, Jesus told us that apart from him, we can do nothing. It's true. We need his power, his wisdom, and his mercy to bear fruit in the world and to become all that we can be in Christ. Today's Destined for Victory message is called "It's All About Him," and it starts right now.

Paul Sheppard: There's somebody listening to this message whose life is awfully complicated right now. Your life is messed up. You have done an excellent job of messing it up. And so many of us know what that's like. Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. You know what we're good at? We're good at messing up life.

We're good at getting off to what we think is a good start, and somewhere along the line, we decide we cannot deal with this prosperity and we mess things up, make poor decisions, and deal with the wrong people and all kinds of things. The next thing you know, your life is entangled in mess. I've got good news for you. Jesus says, "Come to me because I've got a plan and I want to make your life the way it's designed to be. Don't bother trying to figure out how to do it on your own, friend. Come to Jesus and let him do it."

Paul says God saves us through a simple message. The second thing that you learn here in 1 Corinthians 1 is that God saves simple people. Look at verse 26. "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth." Now that might hurt some of your feelings, so let me help you understand what he said. He didn't say not any of you; he said not many of you.

So if you say, "Pardon me, I do come from nobility," Paul didn't discredit that. He just said most of us don't. Most of us in the Kingdom of God aren't wise by human standards. Why? Because that's not what drew us. What drew us was the fact that we knew we needed what that simple message said. So he says not many were wise by human standards, but some were.

But you know, it's wonderful. God knows how to save even wise people, even noble people. You know how he does it? He just lets you make a mess of your life. So it doesn't matter whether you're in the category that's just regular, never were voted best of or most likely to do anything positive. Most of us, that's most of us. Most of us didn't have somebody look at us one day and say, "You're really, really going to be a world changer."

A few were, but you know, if you were one of the few, God said, "Well, I'll just let you try to change the world, see how good you do, and keep your life together and keep it in order and please me all at the same time." What do we discover? We discover that no matter whether you are common or noble, no matter whether you are wise by the world standards or considered just an average person with an average aptitude.

It doesn't matter whether you got 1600 on the SATs or whether you were in the three digits. I know there's some three-digit folks here. Don't raise your hand. Some of us graduated summa cum laude, some graduated magna cum laude, some graduated cum laude, and some of us graduated "Thank you, Lord." You know I'm telling the truth. Graduated "Thank you, Lord. I got out. I barely made it. Oh, God, thank you."

Remember when I was in college taking them foreign language classes? I hated foreign language. But they said you've got to take it in order to pass. I knew then I wasn't going to remember a thing as soon as it was over. I just remembered enough to pass. I remember the professor saying, "I don't know, you just have the ability." I said, "Yes, but I'm not going to speak in this language." She said, "Well, you've got to get through this class. I suggest you buckle down." And I did, and I passed it, and I can't say anything now.

And some of us may have been wise or noble, but God still had a way of showing you that without me, you're nothing. You can have fine inventions, but what does it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his soul? You can be responsible for some wonderful innovations. You can start some great corporations. But unless you please God, your life will have been insignificant because as the old songwriter said, only what you do for Christ is going to last.

Whatever you do for time will burn up in time, but whatever you do for Christ will last. When you share the simple message with a person who desperately needs it and they come to faith in Christ, do you know what you have done is more significant than the people who invented the computers that all of us use, or the cellphones that all of us use, or the technology? Because all that does is help you navigate here in this world for a few years. It's great, it's convenient, but it just lasts for a little while and then it's gone.

But if you share the good news with a person and their heart turns to the Lord, you have changed not only time, you have changed eternity for that individual. And so it's a simple message. And Paul says God saves simple people who come to realize that I wasn't called because I was special; I was called because I was common. Or I was called because I thought I was special and the world thought I was special, but God just let me run into enough of my humanity where I realized I needed him.

Haven't you ever seen rich and famous people who everybody wants their autograph, everyone wants to see them, take pictures of them? But when you hear their true life story, they are miserable people. You know why? Because the only people who think fame and money and fortune and all of that are the keys to happiness are the people who don't have fame, money, and fortune. The people who have it know there's no key to happiness built in there.

You have a bunch of money? That just gives you more problems, more people to distrust. Do you like me or do you like what I have? Got to get married? Got to get a prenup in case you're just pretending to like me but you're really after my stuff. So you've got to get a prenup. Brother came to me one time years ago. "Pastor, what do you think about a prenup? I've been seeing somebody, I kind of like her, but I'm thinking ahead now."

And I said, "Well, in the Kingdom, the two become one. In the Kingdom, you better know who you're marrying." And so he said, "All right, I'm going to go back and pray some more." Listen, when you live the simple life understanding that God is the one who makes the difference in your life, you don't have to worry about all that. When we first got married, I mean, I didn't even have anything. What, a prenup? Please.

All I knew is I had God. I needed him. He had called me to ministry. I needed a good wife. Meredith was down. She wanted to serve God side-by-side with me. I said, "Bet." I didn't have to worry about her motives. I had nothing. Absolutely nothing. What's she going to take, my raggedy LTD? I kid you not, I had an LTD. Y'all remember that Ford used to make it? Come on, 40 and older, come on. LTD. Ford used to make them.

I had one, bought it used. It had some rust and stuff on it. So after a while, when I got a little bit of money, I took it to Maaco. Got it fixed up. And they had a special, and you could not only get the rust off the body, but then they would paint it whatever color you could choose among their colors. And they had a gold color. I said, "That's what I want." Because I'm believing that one day God's going to give me that, some gold, because right now I have nothing.

So I just bought it just thinking and got that color, and it looked good. But I didn't have to worry about her motives. She want the car? Go ahead. So whether you're noble, rich, famous, popular, successful, innovative, or whether you're just a common person, the message is the same. All of us need the Lord. Every last one of us needs the Lord. And the good news is he can be found because he's not far from us. In Jesus Christ, he stands right on the outside of your life knocking to come in.

God saves us through a simple message, Paul says. God saves simple people, or people who come to realize that their nobility will not get them closer to God. And finally, his conclusion in this chapter is God wants us to simply boast about him. God wants us to simply boast about him. My friend, your job in life is to go around bragging on God. Your job in life is to go around talking about Jesus and his love. Your job is to go around letting people know that I have found—people, let me tell you about my best friend.

Oh, I caught some older folk there. Now, some of the young people don't know what I just did. All right, how many, without me telling, how many of you all know what I just referenced? Let me see. Oh, look at that. I went on back. The courtship of Eddie's father, that's what I'm talking about. That was a nice little theme song. That's our job: to go around telling the world, "People, let me tell you about my best friend. Let me tell you about the one who changed my life.

Let me tell you about the one who gave me salvation for free when I couldn't earn it. Let me tell you about the one who picked me up and turned me around and placed my feet on solid ground. Let me tell you about the one who put a smile on my face, who put laughter in my heart, who put joy down in my soul, who gave me peace in my mind and heart. Let me tell you about the one who says, 'I know the plans I have for you. They're plans to prosper you and to give you a hope and a future.'"

Let me tell you about my best friend. His name is Jesus, and he wants to be your best friend too if you'll open your heart. Our job is to go around bragging on God. Jeremiah chapter 9, verses 23 and 24: "This is what the Lord says: Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, or the strong man boast of his strength, or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises kindness." Has God ever been kind to you?

"Who exercises justice." Has God ever righted a wrong in your life? "And righteousness on the earth, for in these I delight," declares the Lord. Jeremiah said if you are wise, don't boast in your wisdom. You know why? Because God gave you the wisdom. I'm self-made? Are you kidding? If you're self-made, that means you didn't go to school because you were too smart for all the teachers.

If you're self-made, no one had to teach you the ABCs and the 123s. No one had to walk you through all the steps of education. No one had to get you to matriculate through a particular college or university. No one had to teach you in postgraduate settings. No one had to do that; you are self-made. Your parents didn't have to give you common sense and wisdom for living. No one had to feed you and take care of you and support you and all of that. If you are self-made, then there's no one who can say, "I contributed to his or her success." That's a foolish statement.

"I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps." Are you serious? God gave you the boots, the straps, and the strength to pull them up. Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, or the strong man boast of his strength. I've seen strong people as a pastor over these years. I've seen strong muscular men walk in my office and bawl like a baby because with all of their physical prowess, something's falling apart in their life.

They can't take it, thinking about suicide. Somebody told them about a preacher who could help them and they walked in desperate. Don't boast in your prowess. Thank God for whatever he's given you to do. You're an athlete or you're in physical shape or whatever, just give God the glory by the way you use your body, but don't think it puts you one up on everybody. Because I've seen folk in great physical shape and in lousy spiritual shape.

And so he says don't boast in it. And then he says to those who are rich, don't boast in your riches. For a lot of reasons. Number one, the stock market is unreliable. I'll never forget, I had a brother walk into my office after that dot-com boom turned into a bust. The man said to me, "Pastor, today I am worth 10% of what I was worth four years ago."

He said, "Pastor, I'm now trying to figure out whether I'm going to be able to educate my children." And I said, "I'll pray with you, stand with you in faith, believe God for you." We agreed in prayer. He was a troubled man. He didn't even know how to—he said, "It's hard to face my wife because we were riding so high." When he walked out of my office, I remember thinking, "I wish you had been listening more when I was preaching."

Because when that boom hit and everyone was delirious with their portfolios—and I didn't know much about portfolios because I didn't have one. You know, I've since learned some things, I'm getting my act together, hooking it up. But then, I didn't know anything except I knew they were too happy. I did know that. Y'all are too happy because you're doing what the Bible said not to do. You're putting your trust in riches. The Bible doesn't say there's anything wrong with your money, but it does say there's something very wrong with you putting your trust in it.

And I tell you what, it came true for many people who realized that the Scripture is right. Paul said when he wrote Timothy, "Tell people who are wealthy not to put their trust in it because it's so uncertain." Many of you heard me tell the story back when I was a young single man. Had a job looking good, I was running this little department in this auto leasing company. Had my company car driving back and forth to work. We were sitting pretty, all of us who work in that doing good.

One day out of the clear blue, come to work, I saw the boss's Mercedes sitting out there. I said, "Oh, what's he doing down here from Paramus, New Jersey?" Walked in, I said, "What's he doing down here?" They said, "I don't know, but it can't be good." A few minutes they called us all into the conference room and said, "This division of our company is not doing well. We've analyzed it. The bottom line is we decided that it's got to go. We're going to phase this division completely out."

And so we all sat there, people were devastated. I remember one lady started crying. She said, "I just bought a house. What in the world am I going to do? How long is this phase-out project going to take?" They said, "It is done as of today." And then somebody asked another question. The answer was the same: today. And then finally said, "Someone said, now those of us who are on the middle or executive level have company cars. How long do we have before we have to turn them in?" Guess what the answer was? Today.

I didn't even know how to get home on the bus from that job. That's the truth. Didn't know what buses to catch to get home. But they said you better figure out something because that car is staying here today. I called Meredith. I was dating her at the time. We weren't engaged, but she was a finalist. And I called her, and I said, "I can't tell you the whole story, but bottom line is I need you to pick me up from my job today."

And she said, "Well, what happened?" "Don't ask questions. Just come get me." You know how when the news isn't good, you can get cranky in a hurry. "Why you got to ask a bunch of questions? That's what's wrong with you now. You always want to know something." You know, a great place to begin to appreciate God's strength and goodness is by learning to fully embrace our own weakness and failures. Do that, and you'll begin to see just how majestic and beautiful he is.

Some of you are trying to change your spouse, and I come to let you know you can't do it. You are not the change agent. The Holy Spirit has a power that can change anybody. You don't have the power to do anything but get on somebody's nerves.

Guest (Male): And that's next time in our message "Knowing the Mind of Christ." Until then, remember: He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.