Destined for Victory

Paul Sheppard: When Jesus moves into your life, he moves into the master bedroom. It's the only way he's coming in. He doesn't stay in guest rooms. Comes into the master bedroom and you go stay in the guest room because he moves into our lives to revolutionize them.

Guest (Male): Jesus stands at the door and knocks, but once you let him in, he's not in your house as a guest. Hello and thanks for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory, where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Sheppard.

God doesn't want to supplement your life; he wants to revolutionize it, to change you from the inside out so that you can fulfill the purpose for which he has called you. And as you'll see today, that can only happen by faith, the kind of faith that follows him even if you don't have all the answers in advance.

Remember, if you can stay with us for the entire program today, visit pastorpaul.net where you can listen to all of our recent messages on demand and get details about how to listen on any of your favorite digital platforms. It's all found at pastorpaul.net. Now let's listen closely to Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message, No Time to Waste.

Paul Sheppard: The gospel according to St. John, chapter nine. Let's look at the first four verses. As Jesus went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned? This man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus. "But this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work."

Our theme is no time to waste. And we looked at the fact that Jesus shows us in this passage a couple of important things. Number one, that all of us are creatures of purpose. Jesus said that this man who was born blind, has lived his entire life to this point in blindness and has been ignored by many, many people, was in the heart and mind of God.

He was a person of purpose. And Jesus didn't just happen by him; it was a divine appointment. It was a day that he was to experience an encounter with God through Jesus Christ. And it reminds us that we're all people of purpose. Our God is a personal God. He knows your life personally.

However insignificant you feel in this big world of ours, you need to know that God sees you. He knows you. He understands you. He understands you better than you understand you. When you're going through your darkest hour, God sees you and he cares about you.

He understands where you are. I don't care what you're feeling like in terms of how you have been dismissed and discarded by other people. You need to know that you are important to God. If you feel like a Hagar—you remember Hagar back in Genesis where she was cast out from Abraham and his family.

Hagar was discarded because she and her son had messed with Sarah once too often. And Sarah finally said, "Put that woman out." Said that to Abraham, "Put her out. She's got to go." And Abraham was troubled, but God spoke to him and said, "Do it. Because while you've got to cast them away, you got to know that I still am in charge of what happens."

And they were out in the desert, had run out of their provisions, thinking they were going to die. Hagar put Ishmael under a bush and walked away, saying, "I can't watch my son die." And while she sobbed and wept, the Lord sent an angel. And the angel said, "What's the matter with you? Don't you know that God sees you?"

And God wasn't just looking at her, but he was looking on her according to his divine purpose. And his purpose was her life was not to be destroyed. And he raised her up, provided for them, gave them water in the desert. And he told her, he said, "Not only are you going to live, but I'm going to make a nation out of your son."

I want to let you know, you might feel insignificant. You might feel persecuted and discarded, but you need to know you're important to God. The other thing we learn here is not only that we're important to God, but that all of us are called of God to do some important work.

Jesus said, "I must work the works of him who sent me." There was an urgency in what he said. "I must do it." And I want to remind you that you have God's calling on your life and you must get it done. If you want to be fulfilled, if you want to experience that true fulfillment, it won't come through the acquisition of material things.

It will not come through attaining a certain career goal. Fulfillment is in doing the will of God. Success is hearing God say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." You can be successful no matter what you have or don't have if you live your life according to God's divine purpose.

Which means you must do the things he's called you to do. There are some things that are not optional for the child of God, and doing the will of God is not optional. You've got to get it done. It's why you were created according to God's purpose.

There are some things for you to do. If God has told you to have a certain ministry, you've got to do it. If God has told you to start a business in his name, you've got to do it. If God has told you to partner with a certain church, you've got to do it.

If God has told you to give your resources to the kingdom, you've got to do it. You must do the things he has called you to do. There's a sense of urgency in what Jesus said. "I must do the will of him who sent me. Must do it."

And let me tell you, just parenthetically, if you're trying to run away from the will of God, it's an exercise in futility. When God's hand is upon you, you'll never experience peace until you surrender. You'll never experience joy until you surrender.

Nothing will go right. You can make money, have a good job, have a great family around you, but there'll be an ache in your soul that never goes away because God has destined you for something that is of eternal value. Jesus said in one place, "He that does the will of God shall abide forever."

See, you got to do the will of God. And if you're trying to run away from his will, the sooner you surrender, the better off you'll be. If God's been speaking to you about something and you've been trying to ignore it, read the book of Jonah.

I've told you many times before, you can do the will of God and look cute. See, when God first said go to Nineveh, Jonah could have been fine in Nineveh. He could have looked all good, gone to Nineveh. Sisters in Nineveh would have been seeing this young little prophet come through town, saying, "Ooh, praise the Lord. Oh, praise God. Let's see what he had to say. Thank you, Jesus."

Could have done that. But instead, he said, "I got other plans for my life. Nineveh isn't on my radar." And so he took off in the other direction. If you've ever looked at a map, Nineveh was this way, Jonah went that way. Tried to sail away from the will of God.

It got so bad because when you're a marked person, you'll never have peace and joy until you surrender to the will of God. And he tried to go on a cruise. He got on a boat, tried to sail away from the will of God. God stirred up the water. He was on a boat full of people who didn't know God. They were pagans, but they knew something was up.

You can make things bad for folk around you until you get in the will of God. And people on the boat who didn't even know God were on there talking about "God's trying to talk to somebody. Now let's find out who it is, because I'm trying to get to Tarshish. And I'm not trying to be stuck in this water because one of y'all..."

"So let's just find out who it is." And Jonah said, "It's me." They said, "Cast lots." Lots fell on Jonah. "Yes, it's me. If you toss me over, fellas, you'll be all right. I don't want to hinder your journey." They said, "That's exactly what we had in mind."

And the Lord prepared a fish, swallowed him whole, kept him alive for three days. The Bible says he cried out of the belly of that fish. And when he was spewed up onto land, God said the same three words he said before: "Go to Nineveh."

Now this time he got to go with gunk, seaweed, smells bad. But when you're called according to divine purpose, you must do it. You'll never have joy, you'll never have peace, you'll never have satisfaction until you do his will. And then we ended by saying, and you don't have all day. You don't have forever.

Jesus said, "You must work while it's day, for night is coming when no one can work." In Bible days, of course, that was especially significant because without the artificial light sources we have, they were literally unable to do many things at night. Day was it.

And that's the truth about your life. You only have a certain amount of time. You don't have forever to do the will of God. And you don't know how much time you have. You can think you know, but you don't know. We've all buried people that just shocked us that they left here, seemingly in the prime of their life.

And so what does that mean? That means you need to be doing his will today. While it is called today. This is the day the Lord has made. This is when I've got to do his will. Now here's what I want to say as I pick it up and share some more thoughts on this general theme.

I want to suggest to you that you don't have time to waste specifically with regard to getting your life right with God and other people. Getting right with God and other people. Now I want to go back and visit a guy named Zacchaeus.

Zacchaeus was a short man, and when Jesus was coming through his town of Jericho, he wanted to see Jesus. But the text in Luke 19 said he couldn't because of the crowd. And so he had to run ahead of them and climb above them in order to see Jesus.

Guest (Male): Let's pause right there for a quick timeout, but don't go away. The second half of today's Destined for Victory message with Pastor Paul Sheppard is coming right up. Well, some things go without saying, but this is not one of them. The ministry team at Destined for Victory wants you to know how much we appreciate you, our listening friends and partners.

You're the ones who provide all of our financial support, and we're so grateful to you not only for your generosity but for the positive eternal impact it's having in the world. To make a generous donation today, please visit pastorpaul.net or call 855-339-5500.

If you want to see Jesus a little more clearly, sometimes you have to climb a tree. Now let's get you back to the rest of today's Destined for Victory message, No Time to Waste.

Paul Sheppard: What I want to do is go back and look at what happened after he ran ahead and climbed above. Now, if you'll recall, he's a tax collector. He was wealthy. He made his wealth being a sellout of his own people. And he heard enough about Jesus to know that "my life needs to be touched by this man."

And he wanted to see him. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree, we're told in verse four of Luke 19, since Jesus was coming that way. Pick it up at verse five. Luke 19:5 says this: "When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.'"

Look at verse six: "So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly." If you understand what's happening here, you'll understand that Jesus didn't just happen through town. Jesus was on his way, we're told in the gospels, to Jerusalem at this point. He is headed toward his ultimate destiny of being betrayed, of being sentenced, of being crucified, and of resurrecting three days later.

He is now moving toward that. But he knows there's another life to be touched. And so divine purpose calls for him to go through this town. Well, when he looks up and sees Zacchaeus, he says, "Zacchaeus, come on down. I've got to go to your house and stay there today."

Because Jesus understood that what Zacchaeus needed, and what all of us need, is for Jesus to move in and completely revolutionize our lives. I want you to understand that that is what the gospel is all about. It is to introduce into our lives one who comes to change us and to make us the people God has called us to be.

I say that because we live in days where people have created their own brand of Christianity. And it is a brand of Christianity where you adopt some of the teachings of Jesus, you espouse some of the things he said that you like, but you do not let him move in to revolutionize your life.

Consequently, you have a lot of people who want to profess a knowledge of or a relationship with Christ, but their life bears no evidence that Christ lives within. It is Christ in me that is the hope of glory, Paul said. Not me believing a few things Christ said, but Christ taking up residence in my life.

If Christ doesn't take up residence in one's life, he or she is not a true believer. Jesus put it this way: "Unless you take up your cross and follow me." You've got to associate with him in every detail. And we have a brand of Christianity today that is not true Christianity according to the scriptures.

We have a lot of people who don't love the Lord; they lust the Lord. The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Well, today we have a popular brand of religion that lusts God.

The difference is very, very clear. When one lusts, the emphasis is on me. When one loves, the emphasis is on the object of that love. When I lust, I seek to gain pleasure at your expense. But when I love, I seek to empty myself so that your will can be fulfilled, your best interest can be realized.

And the Bible calls us to love God, enough to let him into every area of our life and to dictate to us how our lives ought to be lived. But when you lust after God, you use God for a cosmic bellhop. You use God for gimme, gimme, gimme, and you don't care about his will in your life.

If you want to understand it, just look at what happens in human relationships. Just look at any of you women who have ever been played by a man who pretended to love you. But it became obvious at some point that he only lusted you because the emphasis was on what he was going to get out of the deal.

And so your job in his mind was to make him happy. And as soon as he didn't get out of you what he wanted, he showed you how he really felt about you. And the truth is, he felt that way about you all along. And so when you've been loved, someone has been willing to sacrifice for you.

And that's a very different dynamic. Well, the same is true when it comes to dealing with God. And I want you to look at how Zacchaeus welcomed Jesus into his life. He didn't say, "Jesus, come in, but I'm going to set the terms. Now, I'll go to church if I don't have other things to do. I'll give a little money—don't ask for much."

"And I will make some adjustments in my life that make me feel like a person who is giving back. But I want to dictate and maintain control of the core issues in my life." He doesn't do that. He welcomes him in gladly. And when Jesus moves into your life, he doesn't move in—I've said before—to take up residence in your guest room.

When Jesus moves into your life, he moves into the master bedroom. It's the only way he's coming in. He doesn't stay in guest rooms. Comes into the master bedroom and you go stay in the guest room. Because he moves into our lives to revolutionize them.

Here's a man who desperately needs a revolution, and only Jesus can do it. So he moves in to make changes. When Jesus moves into your life, he comes, he looks around your life, and he sees all the stuff that he wants to revolutionize. And the question is: Have you welcomed him for that purpose, or are you disturbed by that idea?

I want to let you know, you're blessed if you welcome him in to say like Zacchaeus, "Come in and do with me and through me whatever you want." Then you won't be so traumatized because he's coming in to make changes.

If you're one of those folk who has accepted Jesus but you're still trying to hold onto the reins and the control of your life, give them up, because he is intent on being Lord of your life. That's where the blessing is, that's where the glory is, that's where the revolution takes place—when he comes in to have full control.

So he moves in, he looks around your life. He sees some things that just have to go. Have you ever seen some of these extreme makeover shows where they take people's houses and just completely rearrange them? Jesus does that at an extreme.

Jesus comes in, looks at some things, some areas of sin, and says, "Okay, these have to go." He orders a dumpster. It pulls up. They set it in your driveway of your life. Big thing. Because there's a lot going in there. When we come to Jesus, our lives are full of sin and dysfunction and all kinds of things.

And this isn't a quick thing. God's going to be working on you for a while. And so he says, "Just dump it, just leave it here. It'll be here." And then he begins to go to work and target specific areas of your life and deal with you. Now, you know how it happens. Some of us try to contend with him. "No, no, see, I need this."

Have you ever tried to have a house cleaning, but folk in your family want to hold onto stuff that you're ready to release? I've told you before, I love every few years, I just look around my house and I say, "It's got to go." I need the therapy of getting some of this stuff out of here.

You know how you can just accumulate things. After a while, you look around and say, "Where'd all this stuff come from? Where all these piles? Where these papers? What's in this bag? What's in that drawer? What in the world?"

And see, I can't deal with it at a certain point. That clutter gets in my head. Anybody there? It gets in my head. I can't think. I need room to think. I need space. Every few years, it's just got to go. And so we find the things that can be donated, things that somebody else can be blessed by, but it's clutter in my house.

Jesus do the same thing in your life. And he begins that meticulous, lifelong journey with you of walking room by room, drawer by drawer, bag by bag, pile by pile. Relationships. Ambitions. Attitudes. Dispositions. Besetting sins. And all kinds of things. And he begins to help you look through them.

Guest (Male): Think of Jesus as a contractor, only he doesn't come to your house to do a renovation, he comes to do a total rebuild. You've been listening to Destined for Victory and Pastor Paul Sheppard's message, No Time to Waste. Thanks so much for being with us.

If you miss part of today's message or if you want to listen again on demand, you'll find it available on demand in our free app. Just visit your app store and search for Destined for Victory or go to our website, pastorpaul.net. You know, it can sometimes be easy to be nice to strangers, but what about the people closest to you?

We've got a brand-new resource to share with you that may help. It's a booklet called Clothed in Love: Seven Gifts for the Ones Who Matter Most. Based on Colossians 3 verses 12 through 15, Clothed in Love will challenge you to direct your best selves towards the ones who matter most.

Pastor Paul Sheppard points you to seven virtues: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and forgiveness, and how giving these gifts away can transform your most important relationships.

That's Clothed in Love: Seven Gifts for the Ones Who Matter Most, and it's our gift to you today by request when you give your generous gift to Destined for Victory. You can give 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. And God revolutionizes our lives by coming in to throw out those things that are not part of his plan. He comes in to help us consecrate those things that don't have to be destroyed, but they need to be redirected.

God will take your life and through a process of coming in and examining the issues of your life, you will be changed into his image. That is next time in our continuing message, No Time to Waste. Until then, remember: He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.