Destined for Victory

Paul Sheppard: If you have a bumper sticker that says "God is my co-pilot," either tear it off or get some White-Out and white out "co-." One of the two. Because God is no one's co-pilot. He comes in to be in charge.

Guest (Male): Here’s the first rule of Kingdom first living. It’s not your kingdom. Hello and thanks for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard. You know, the moment you accepted Christ, you began a journey, a sanctification process that ultimately leads to the abundant, joyful, victorious Christian life.

But you won’t get there as long as you are on the throne. And as you’ll see today, victory begins with surrender. Remember to visit our website, pastorpaul.net, where you can listen to any of our recent messages on demand, including today’s. You’ll find details there about how to listen on your favorite digital platform. That’s at pastorpaul.net. Now, let’s listen closely to Pastor Paul’s Destined for Victory message, "Living by the J.O.Y. Principle."

Paul Sheppard: Paul says be in it to win it. Get the most that God has to offer. Enjoy your full spiritual inheritance. Let God use you to touch the lives of others. Be in it all the way. So he said decide that you will win. Decide that you're going to win. I don't get in any game that I don't plan to win. If I sit down at the table, I'm planning to win. I told them when I play a card game, Monopoly, whatever it is, in it to win it. Board game, Trouble, Sorry, whatever it is, in it to win it.

I want to be at the table with winners. Folk who, if they don't win, there’s going to be a problem up in here. That's my crew. Those folk that you just sit there and wipe them out and they just laugh, I don't get it. But whether you're that way about games and sports, you ought to be that way about serving the Lord. Decide that you're going to be in it to win it. Number two, we said, not only must you decide to win, but number two, you must discipline your mind and body.

Paul went on to say now athletes go into strict training. Strict training. And we spent time in the last message talking about this business of going into strict training. I interviewed some athletes that were in the room just to make the case that if you're going to really be a world-class athlete, or even on the collegiate level as were the people I interviewed, they went into strict training. They talked about hours of training.

I interviewed a volleyball player that had to run and had to lift weight. Now you would think what in the world does that have to do with hitting a ball over a net? But you've got to understand, at a certain level, you've got to cross-train, you've got to have optimal stamina and strength. And so much of the training has little to do with the actual event, so it would appear. But the reality is you've got to go into strict training.

I talk to football players who train from early morning till late night. It's not just a matter of knocking somebody on the ground or running a touchdown. It's a matter of being strong and being vigilant. It's a matter of having excellent reflexes, and so you've got to go into strict training. And let me tell you, Paul uses the analogy, but he's talking about the spiritual life. If we're going to get where God's taking us, he says we have to have the mindset of discipline.

What makes us think that everything in life worth having is going to come easy? The reality is in the military, they take your life from you. They take your decision-making from you. They say you're in the army now. You get up when we say get up. Go to bed when we say go to bed. Do what we say to do. In athletics, the same thing. You've got to play by the rules if you're going to win. Well, in the Christian race, it still applies. You and I can't just have determination; we must couple it with discipline.

In fact, here's the soundbite I gave in that message: Determination without discipline is dreaming. A whole lot of folk say they're determined to do something, but if you don't marry it to discipline, you're just dreaming. It's going to take discipline of mind and body. So in the spiritual race, you're going to have to decide that I pray not just when I feel like it; I pray every day. I read the Word regularly. I get before God because he's the coach. The Holy Spirit is the coach in my race. He's got instructions for me, and I've got to be there for the team meeting to find out what I've got to do, how I'm going to win.

And I'm here to tell you that you can't just live based on feelings. You'll never get where God's taking you based on your feelings. You'll get there by allowing the Spirit to help you develop the discipline of mind and body. So you and I, if we are going to truly be sanctified, must decide that we'll win and then we must discipline both body and mind. Now let me go on and make the third of four points. Number three, not only must we decide to win and discipline mind and body, but number three: Dethrone self.

Dethrone self. Know what that means? You're on the throne of your life. Get up. Get up. Because the Lord Jesus Christ comes into our lives not just to save us, but to be Lord of our lives. To be in charge of our lives. You know, I've told you before, but it's worth repeating. If you have a bumper sticker that says "God is my co-pilot," either tear it off or get some White-Out and white out "co-." One of the two.

Because God is no one's co-pilot. He will not let you fly the plane while he sits in the other seat and waits for you to take a bathroom break before he'll do something in your life. He doesn't come in to just sit and chat with us while we make decisions, while we set priorities, while we decide what to do with our time, talent, and treasure. No, no. When he comes into our lives, he comes in as King of kings and Lord of lords. He comes in to be in charge.

Now look at how this point is made in chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians. Paul points us back to Israel when they were coming out of Egypt. He says I want you not to be ignorant of the fact that our forefathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea. They were baptized, he says, into Moses in the cloud and the sea. What's he referring to? He's talking about the fact that you remember when God was ready to bring his children Israel out of Egyptian slavery, he raised up a leader named Moses.

And he used Moses in mighty ways. In fact, when you get a chance, read that story because it's amazing. God took a man who said I can't do this and said that's why I chose you. Moses said I stutter. I can't go before Pharaoh and tell him you said let my people go. I'll hardly get it out. I stutter. And God said I'm looking for somebody who knows they can't do it so that when it gets done, no one will rob me of my glory.

God's still doing that kind of thing in your life. Waiting for you to run out. Waiting for you to get to the end of yourself. When he gives you a vision and you say I can't fulfill that, God says right answer. So that when I do it, you won't take my glory. So he raises up Moses. A man with nothing but a stick and a stutter. Has a stick in his hand. God turned it into a mighty weapon. Didn't he do it? At one point he had him throw it down in front of Pharaoh, and it turned into a serpent.

And Pharaoh's magicians said oh, we can do that. And they, through the power of demonic forces, turned theirs into serpents, but Moses' serpent ate up all of theirs. Pharaoh said yeah, but I'm still unimpressed. So God now sends him through a series of plagues just to show him how powerful he is. But it's amazing. The New Testament Paul said in the book of Romans that God actually hardened the heart of Pharaoh. He was so interested in making a point to Israel that he hardened Pharaoh's heart.

He made Pharaoh resist seeing the power of God, and yet he still fought and fought and fought not to deliver the people. Why? So that when he finally gave in, the people knew that with a mighty hand God had delivered them. Well, I want to let you know that's a shadow of our salvation. You and I were bound in sin. It's like being slaves in Egypt. We were bound in our sin. No hope for salvation. Sin had a grasp on us we could not break out of.

But Jesus came from heaven as the divine Moses and said to the devil, let my people go. And on the cross of Calvary, he stripped the devil of all of his authority in your life, all of his power to do in you what he wants to do, and Jesus gained the victory. So Paul says here in 1 Corinthians 10 that God with a mighty hand brought them out and he led them. Now how did he lead them? He led them by a cloud.

Remember that? God put a special cloud in the sky because these folk have never been. They don't know how to get to the promised land. They've never been to the promised land. God said all you've got to do is follow the cloud. Just wherever the cloud goes, that's where you go. That's a sign of the Holy Spirit who guides us, who leads us. You just got to go where he leads you to go. And he says God led them through the sea. Remember the miracle of the Red Sea?

God took the sea, parted it on two sides. And a couple of million Israelites left bondage in Egypt, went into the sea literally where the sea used to be. They're walking through on dry land. And God waited for all of them to get on the other side. Then Pharaoh's crazy army tried to follow them. I talk about them all the time because I don't understand those brothers. When you see a sea part and the ground is dry and you see these couple of million folk that you're chasing go through this highway in the middle of a sea, you don't have to be a rocket scientist.

All you have to know is whoever did that is serious about them getting away from us. Who was the special dude in the first chariot who decided I think I'm going through here? If you and I were the first chariot, we'd have pulled over to the side of the road, pulled out the cell phone, call your family. Say look here, we're going to have to relocate because Pharaoh gave us orders to bring them back, but I'm looking at something where that's not a good idea.

So I can't come back to Egypt because he'll kill us. Tell you what, why don't y'all pack up and meet me somewhere? Let's go down a few towns away from Egypt, from the capital of Egypt. Let's go down, we'll find a Denny's or something, sit down and eat and talk about where we're going to live. That's what you'd have done. But these folk went through, and so God just waited for the army to get in the middle of the Red Sea, and he let the water come back in.

God with a mighty hand delivered his children. And Paul says God did it with a mighty work and he baptized them into Moses through leading them by the cloud and through bringing them through the sea. He says furthermore, they all drank the same spiritual drink; they all ate the same spiritual food. What's that have reference to? Well, God not only delivered them, but then he provided for them. When they got over in the wilderness, they said well, where is the water over here?

And God said all right, I will give you all water. And he made bitter water sweet so that they could drink and be sustained. Then he had a rock follow them so that whenever they were in a thirsty land, all Moses had to do was strike the rock one time and it would produce the drink that they needed, the water that was sustaining. That's why the old folk said Jesus is a rock in a weary land. Not only a rock you can sit on, but one that'll sustain you with God's divine provision.

And not only did he do that, but then they said well, we're hungry. Where's the food over here? God tested their faith by giving them something called manna. And manna means "what is it?" And God tested them by providing for them that which would meet the need, but they never understood it. Let me tell you something, God's not out of the manna business yet. You ever had a manna blessing? You ever had a "what is it?" blessing?

I don't understand how God's doing it, but he's doing it. I don't understand how he's meeting my need, but he's meeting it. I don't understand how my bills are getting paid, but they're getting paid. I don't understand how my children are doing so well under difficult circumstances, but they're doing it. I don't understand how I got a job I wasn't qualified for, but I'm working it. I don't understand how I got accepted to a school without money, but I'm going every day.

God's still in the manna business. God is still in the "what is it?" business because he's not all that into answering questions; he's just into making ways. We love to get God to tell us something, but God doesn't have that much to say. I'm worried about folk who think God talks to them all the time. We got a few in this church; there's a few everywhere who just think God talks to them all the time. Listen, listen, bless your heart. God doesn't have that much to say.

But what he will do is he'll make a way silently. He'll make a way. He'll just open the door. He'll just answer the prayer. He'll just meet the need. And you know it's God. They'd wake up in the morning and there was this stuff that they didn't understand, but it met the need. And it was God's provision of manna. And they all got to taste of God's provision through the spiritual drink and the spiritual food. And he says the rock that followed them was Christ.

Look at verse 5, though. He says nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them. Despite how God had blessed them, they continued to displease the Lord. Why did they do it? Because while they had come out of Egypt, Egypt hadn't gotten out of them. You know what happens with many of us? We come out of sin, but the next challenge is to get sin out of us. We come out of the world, but now we gotta get the world out of us.

We come out of carnality, but now we gotta get carnality out of us. And let me tell you something, coming out of sin is one thing, but getting sin out of you is another. And look at how it happened in their lives. Same thing that happens in our lives. He gives examples, verse 6. He says these are examples that if we don't set our hearts on the Lord and instead set them on evil things, we will experience the same kind of defeat and failure that they did.

He gives examples of their types of sin. Number one, he talks about idolatry. He says some of them, although they came out of Egypt and they are now supposed to serve the true and the living God, they still took their idolatry from Egypt and brought it with them into the new life. Let me tell you something, you and I can practice idolatry if we're not careful. You say well, I don't have any statues in my house; I don't have any idols that I bow down and worship.

Wait a minute, an idol is anything that you ought to give to the lordship of Jesus Christ and instead it competes with his lordship. So you can idolize your job if you work it in a way God said not to work it. If you give it too much time or attention or energy or focus or affection. You can idolize your house. You can idolize your career. You can idolize your schooling, your education. You can idolize your possessions, your car, your jewelry. You can idolize anything, and an idol can be people, places, or things that hold a wrong position in your heart.

So don't be too quick to say I don't practice idolatry. If you drive a car nobody can ride in it because you're worried about them messing it up, you're driving an idol. Come on somebody. A car does no good unless it takes people somewhere. And here you're riding in a car, got plenty of room, and you won't bring people in because their feet are so dirty they come in here mess up my mats. You, my friend, have an idol. And God forbid somebody lean on it.

And don't let a ding happen at the grocery store and you come out and somebody dinged your car with a cart and you turn out the whole parking lot. You need to check your heart. Because a ding can be taken out. But what's going on inside of you that that car is so important? First of all, it's an object. It's an object that has to share space with other objects and people who are careless. So when you buy the car, buy it knowing one day it's going to get dinged.

And when that time comes, you just get it knocked out or you just drive your dinged up car. Come on. Now you gotta make up in your mind. One of the two. If it bothers you that much, get it fixed. If not, just go on and drive it. If you drive one of those old ones, after a while the ding might make a little improvement. I listen, I know. I've driven. I've gone through different seasons. I've driven all kinds of knockers, all kinds of hoopties. I've driven cars that when somebody scrape it, it look better than before they scrape it.

But you gotta be careful when God bless you and you can now drive new cars and fancy cars and all the different options we have now. You gotta make sure it doesn't become an idol. Your house, your job, your career. People can be idols in your life. You honor people, you respect them, you thank God for them, you look up to them, but you can't idolize them because God will share his glory with no one.

So he talks about idolatry. He says don't be an idolater as some of them were and they were judged for it. He says then some of them got into the pagan lifestyle, all kinds of debauchery, all kinds of foolishness. He says you want to make sure to live your life soberly and with righteousness. Don't get into paganism. Don't get into just being wild and doing anything that your senses tell you to do.

We live in a society now where people want to rebuke you for saying some things are right and some things are wrong. And they're quick to tell you that's your reality, and don't put your reality on me. Well, some things beat all of us here. God has a standard that is right and he says these are the things I want you to do. Here's the way I want you to live your life. These are the kinds of morals I want you to have. And everything else you are to leave alone. God sets the standard, not you and I.

We don't get the vote on righteousness. Righteousness is what God says it is. And so you gotta make up in your mind that you're going to live your life God's way. This is not Burger King; you don't get to do it your way. You don't get to customize Christianity.

Guest (Male): You know, living life God's way begins with humility. The humility to admit we need a Savior and the humility to ask for his help even after the saving is done. Without humility there can be no faith, and without faith it is impossible to please God. You've been listening to Destined for Victory and Pastor Paul Sheppard's message, "Living by the J.O.Y. Principle." Thanks so much for being with us. If you haven't already downloaded our free mobile app, today's the day to do it. Search Destined for Victory at the App Store and listen to any of our messages wherever you go.

Well, the Christian life is a victorious life, and it’s not a happy coincidence. It’s your birthright, already purchased by Jesus Christ at the highest price in history. And yet, so many believers live in defeat, selling their birthright for things worth far less. In his booklet *More Than Conquerors*, Pastor Paul Sheppard uses the unlikely story of Gideon to outline the path from defeat to victory. If you want to understand how to take on a victor’s identity and tear down the idols competing for your heart, you’ll want to reserve your copy today.

That’s *More Than Conquerors*, yours this month for your generous donation to Destined for Victory. You can give that gift by phone by calling 855-339-5500. That’s 855-339-5500. Or visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. You can also mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California, 94538. Join us tomorrow for more of the message, "Living by the J.O.Y. Principle." Until then, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.