Destined for Victory

Guest (Male): Hello and welcome to Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard. Before we get things started today, here is a special word from Destined for Victory's executive director, Alicia Sheppard Greer.

Alicia Sheppard Greer: Pastor Paul's media ministry is at a crossroads. And as executive director and as his daughter, I'm sincerely asking for your help. When my father went to be with the Lord earlier this year, you all showed such tremendous support, and we are so grateful for each and every one of you.

But recently, we experienced a change in one of our significant sources of funding, and that change has led to a deficit. So we need your help to keep Pastor Paul's teachings on the air. So we are asking you to prayerfully consider giving a gift over and above your normal amount to help us keep this teaching legacy alive.

You can make a donation and request the book by visiting pastorpaul.net. Thank you so much for standing with us and keeping this mighty man of God's teaching legacy alive. God bless you.

Guest (Male): All right, thank you, Alicia. We really are so grateful for those who have already responded to this urgent need, and thank you in advance for what you can do to help Destined for Victory continue to share the gospel all over the world on multiple platforms.

As you give today, we have a great thank-you gift to share with you, one that will challenge you to persevere through life's challenges or unwanted change. Introducing our booklet, *Keep Moving Forward*.

Drawing from Israel's transition from Moses to Joshua, this booklet will remind you that God has promised to go before you as your leader and your protector, even when you're facing new challenges. It is a great resource for anyone who wants to be more fully equipped to move confidently into the future God has prepared.

Again, that's *Keep Moving Forward*, our thank-you gift for your generous donation to Destined for Victory. You can give by phone by calling 855-339-5500. That is 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.

Paul Sheppard: Don't remember what you ought to be forgetting and don't forget what you ought to be remembering. You ought to remember the goodness of the Lord. You ought to remember the lessons you learned. You ought to remember the joys of having had certain people in your life for a season.

We just said goodbye to one of the beloved members of our church, and we have been reflecting over the past week and a half about having her in our lives and all of the experiences we had with them. That is the kind of stuff you remember, and you take those lessons and those values and those things that they brought to your life, you take them into your future.

If you are going to move forward, you have got to take some stuff with you because God is going to have use for them in your life as you move along. Moses was telling them, "I can't go with you, but you're still going. I'm not going to make it there." Listen, all of us have an expiration date.

That is why you have got to maximize your relationships now. You don't know how long you are going to have those folks. You don't have to be old to check out of here. You don't have to be sick to check out of here.

And so treat everybody this week like this is the last week you have with them. And just live that way. Enjoy all you can. Keep your business straight as you go. Don't have funniness that's unresolved. If somebody hurts your feelings, tell them. If you need to rebuke them, rebuke them. Don't practice sloppy agape.

I am sick of that, Christians grinning all the time, won't say what they need to say. Say what you need to say. There's a secular song by that title. It doesn't have Jesus in it, but download it to your iPod. Say what you need to say. It's got some gospel in it. I don't think he's saved, the man who sang it, but it's got some gospel in it.

Some of y'all are too silent for your own good. Say what you need to say. Get your mouth open, tell folks what the deal is because it will help you keep it moving in your life. And things are going to change. Things happen. That's just life. None of us are here to stay. Things are moving along. Keep your business straight.

That is why the Bible said about anger, don't let the sun go down on it. You might need a few minutes to get yourself together so that you speak respectfully. I know what that is like. You say, "I need a few minutes, pull it together because if I speak at the moment, some things are going to come out that aren't quite right."

But give me half an hour, 45 minutes. Let me go take a walk, let me do something, get myself together, and then I will come back and we will talk. But when you come back, get it straight. The Bible gives you the right to get it straight. It says be angry but don't sin.

You can be angry. Don't think being saved means grinning all the time. Where did we get that from? Bible said be angry, just stop short of sin. How do you do that? You keep focused on the problem, don't take it over into the personal. And then keep your goal reconciliation if they will repent. And if they won't repent, you can't reconcile with somebody who won't repent.

But if you can't have reconciliation, at least get it off of you and say, "Now you were wrong, you need to own that you were wrong, this is not acceptable, you can't treat me this way," and you draw the boundaries. And if they can meet up to that, good. If not, they can't deal with you.

You have to let folks know you don't have permission to fool with me the rest of my days. Some of y'all have got to let people know that. I'm not giving you that much power. If you won't act right, you are not going to have my time, you are not going to have my attention, you are not going to have my phone number. If you come to my house, I am going to look through the peephole and not let you in. Don't give people power who don't deserve it.

Guest (Male): Let's pause right there for just a moment. We will be right back with more of today's Destined for Victory message featuring Pastor Paul Sheppard. Remember you can always listen to the broadcasts on demand at pastorpaul.net.

And when you stop by, we hope you visit our online store where you'll find books and video messages that feature the teaching and preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Sheppard. That is pastorpaul.net. Life won't always stay the same. Fortunately, neither will you. Let's get you back to the rest of today's Destined for Victory message, No Matter What Happens, Keep Moving Forward.

Paul Sheppard: I saw her after service. I said, "I understand that you walked up to somebody who came to church ahead of you and demanded that they move from your seat." Then she said, "The reason why I need to sit there..." and made up some bogus reason why she needed that seat.

I said, "Don't let me ever hear of you doing that in this church again. If you want to sit in that seat, here is the way to do it: get here half an hour before service starts."

That was the last I heard of that. And so we have to learn to recalibrate. What are the things in your life that you don't want shifting around? You have got to understand they are subject to shift. So be ready to recalibrate. That is why I say you can't afford to live in denial, you can't afford to have this propensity to refuse to change. Everything must change.

Look in the mirror. The mirror will remind you things are moving along. You have got to recalibrate. Look at your energy level. It is not what it used to be. You have got to conserve it.

When you were young and in your prime and had all that crazy energy, you could just go and go and go, didn't need but three hours of sleep, you would get up and go a full day and all like that. Look at where you are now. You have got to pace yourself.

You have got to say, "This is it, I've had about enough today I can take. This is it, I'm shutting it down. Shut all the engines down. Click, click, click. Shutting them down. I'm going to sit here, I'm going to relax myself, going to eat me something, calm my nerves, get some sleep, try it again if the Lord blesses me to see tomorrow."

Just look in the mirror. It's meant to tell you. Moses said teach us to number our days in one of the psalms of Moses. Teach us to number our days, Lord, that we might apply our hearts to wisdom.

What's that mean? As you get older, get wiser. Apply your heart to wisdom. Finally get it. At some point you ought to get it. Yeah, you had years where there were some things you didn't, but by now you're old enough you should have got this. Teach us to number our days. You've changed. Dress like you've changed. Do your hair like you've changed.

I used to have a big Afro. Big Afro. Platted at night, we called it platting at night. Get the Afro Sheen, Ultra Sheen, grease it up, put it in plats, go to sleep, wake up, get the Afro pick, pick it out. Big old Afro, walk out, it's glistening in the sun.

Oh, you couldn't tell the kid he wasn't somebody. But life kept on happening and I found a hole developing in my Afro. I am not as impressive as I used to be on the outside. But the Bible says while you are losing it on the outside, you ought to be being renewed day by day on the inside.

You ought to know some stuff you didn't know when you were young. You ought to have a deeper level of peace and contentment. You're not trying to impress the folks you used to try to impress when you were young. You used to want everybody to be happy with you. Now I really don't care at all.

My goal is to please God, and if I please God, whoever else is happy, that is fine, and whoever is not happy, oh well. Y'all are busy wondering, taking everybody's temperature, seeing if they're happy with you, taking your popularity polls.

I could care less what they think. My job in this season of recalibration is to please God and do what he says. Whoever likes that, you can roll with me. Whoever doesn't like that, I'll see you, wouldn't want to be you.

And these days you can do some things to help yourself. If you want to buy you some more when you're losing too much, go on, they have got some products for you. I'm not going that route. I've seen the hairpieces some of the brothers wear. I wouldn't do that to myself. If it works for you, you go and work it. I'm just talking about me. This is my story, this is my song.

I wouldn't do that to myself. I see some of these rugs these brothers put on their head and I'm thinking, "What are you thinking? What kind of day were you having that you walked into a place and walked out with that on your head?" Something was the problem that day. You should have took somebody in there who love you enough to speak the truth in love. At a certain age, don't go shopping by yourself. You might fool yourself. You need somebody who can stand there and just say, "I love you, right? Now put that down."

Same thing with you sisters. Not every wig has your name on it. Not every one. You've got to find the one that works for you. If you're going to go to the wig chair, find out in advance what you're supposed to have at this season in your life. Don't sit in the chair baldheaded, get up looking like Diana Ross in her heyday. Don't do that. You get home, your dog won't even recognize you.

You walk in the door and he's barking. Teach us, Lord, to number our days. Teach us to recalibrate. Teach us to figure out what it's supposed to be today. That's why I often refer to that statement in the disciples' prayer, we call it the Lord's Prayer but it was the prayer he taught us to pray: Give us this day our daily bread. Lord, give me what I need for today. Today is not yesterday, it's not 10 years ago. Today I need a new grace, I need a new provision. Not just the bread of food, which Jesus was talking about, but I need grace today that is unique to this season of my life.

I find I need a grace now I didn't need 20 years ago. Today God's got to give me a certain grace because there are some things I would say today that would have never popped in my head 20 years ago. I could tolerate foolishness better back then.

I've been through enough now, been to hell and back. You push up on me wrong now, it's not going to go well unless the Lord gives me grace. I'm just confessing mine so that you don't have to confess yours. You can sit there and feel all right. I'm telling you, I need a certain grace. And thank God it is available to us. God will cause all grace to abound toward us if we'll yield to him.

And so you've got to remember, you've got to recalibrate, finally you've got to rejoice. Rejoice. He said to them in verse six of Deuteronomy 31, "Be strong and courageous. Don't be afraid. Don't be terrified. No matter who's up against you, what you're facing, don't worry about it." Why? Because the Lord your God goes with you.

He will never leave you, he will never forsake you. I don't care what you're facing. They were getting ready to face walled cities and giants and terror of all kind. But Moses said, "The Lord is getting ready to take me away from you, but God himself is going over ahead of you."

And so you've got to understand if he leads you toward the walled city, God got there before you got there, and he knows what he's going to do about the walled city. If he leads you toward the giant, he beat you to the giant, and he knows what he's going to do about the giant.

Don't worry about unemployment. Don't worry about your family acting crazy. Don't worry about your house coming apart. Don't worry about the bills piling up. Don't worry about anything going on in your life. Keep the kingdom of God first. Keep Jesus at the center of your life. Trust him and obey him and serve him and rejoice because he went ahead of you.

He knows where you are, he knows where you're going, he knows where you've been. And the same God that brought you this far is not going to leave you now. In fact, not only is he walking with you, but he has gone ahead of you.

And I want to tell somebody it is time for you to rejoice. If you came in here troubled, it's time for you to leave rejoicing, saying the Lord has gone ahead of me. He beat me to the house before I get there. He beat me to the job before I get there tomorrow. He beat me to the trouble that I'm getting ready to experience.

He went ahead of me. I didn't know that bereavement was coming. I didn't know I would lose a family member or a friend, but God went ahead of me, and he's going to give me grace that is sufficient and peace that passes understanding because he's moving in my life. He's keeping me going forward.

He told me to remember the things he wants me to remember and recalibrate and make my adjustments so I can rejoice in the Lord evermore. And I will say it again, rejoice. Just decide you're going to rejoice in God. You're going to be happy in the God of your salvation, for he has gone ahead of you.

I want somebody to know, no matter what happens, keep moving forward.

Guest (Male): Thanks for being here with us for today's Destined for Victory message, No Matter What Happens, Keep Moving Forward. To find out more about Destined for Victory's mission and purpose, or about the special gift reserved for you when you give generously today, please come see us at pastorpaul.net. That is pastorpaul.net.

Paul Sheppard: Pain is inevitable. Pain is not for certain people; pain is for everybody. If you're on Earth, if you're walking around, you are going to deal with pain. Pain has nothing to do with you being out of the will of God. Pain has to do with you being a human being on planet Earth. You are going to deal with some pain. God is all about victory. Yes, he's about victory, but you can't have victory without a contest.

Guest (Male): And that is next time in our message, Turning Pain Into Gain. But until then, remember he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.