Destined for Victory

Announcer: Hello and thanks for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard. Coming your way next, a great message about the way Jesus comes to revolutionize your life and what it looks like when He does. But first, we want to share an important conversation I once had with Pastor Paul. I asked him to talk about his commitment to Destined for Victory's media ministry and why he felt so compelled to use his voice to lead people to faith in Christ. Here is what he had to say.

Paul Sheppard: I want to tell you that it's important to me as a discipler that my voice is heard and it is used to help people grow in their knowledge of the Lord and in their faith walk with Him. Fact of the matter is, my voice doesn't sound like most of the other folks you hear on Christian radio. I'm well aware of that and I'm really comfortable with that. I come from my own unique background both ethnically and in terms of life experience. There are things I share, there are things I say, and there are ways that I say them that are unique.

I believe that perspective needs to be heard throughout Christendom. So while I'm so grateful for all of my heroes, your heroes are mine, I listen to the same people. The guys who have been on the radio for decades and have proclaimed God's word faithfully, I really do appreciate those guys. But I've learned not to be intimidated by them because I've got my own way of processing and my own way of sharing and helping people to learn and to grow in their faith.

So it's quite intentional. Sometimes I like to be really colloquial in what I say and how I say it because I'm just using who I am. I think God wants to use that. He's the one who called me. I didn't call myself, He called me. I believe He knows what He was getting when He called me into the ministry. So I'm just trying to make a difference because the Gospel really does change lives. I believe I have a unique calling to help present the Gospel from my own perspective. I pray that that's resonating with listeners and I pray that that means enough to them that they'll make sure my voice can continue to be heard right along with our other heroes who teach the Gospel of Jesus.

Announcer: That's our mission, to bring timeless truth for a victorious life to radio, online, and on our free mobile app and on every available digital platform. But we can't do any of this without your help. So today, we're asking you to send a generous donation to Destined for Victory. As our way of saying thanks, we'd like to send you our latest booklet, "Clothed in Love: Seven Gifts for the Ones Who Matter Most." It's easy to be kind to strangers, but what about the people closest to us?

In this message drawn from Colossians 3, verses 12 through 15, Pastor Paul challenges us to direct our best selves toward the ones who matter most. Through seven powerful virtues—compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and forgiveness—you'll discover what it truly means to honor your mother and how giving these gifts can transform your most important relationships. That's "Clothed in Love: Seven Gifts for the Ones Who Matter Most," our gift to you today by request when you give your generous gift to Destined for Victory.

If you'd like 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. 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.

Jesus said that people who are well don't need a physician, only the sick. What He was saying in so many words was that everyone needs healing, but not everyone knows it. On today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard, you'll meet a man who knew he was unwell, was humble enough to admit his house was not in order, and then you'll see what Jesus did to revolutionize his life. This message is called "No Time to Waste," and it starts right now.

Paul Sheppard: Have you ever tried to have a house cleaning, but people 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 did all this stuff come from? Where are all these piles? What are these papers? What's in this bag? What's in that drawer? What in the world?

At a certain point, that clutter gets in my head. It gets in my head and after a while I can't think. I need room to think. I need space. Every few years, stuff has got to go. 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 does the same thing in your life. 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.

He begins to help you look through them. Now, if you're one of those people who's traumatized by that process, He'll help you. He'll give you grace to do it. But you have to submit and say, "Okay Lord, I'm with You. You're Lord." But just walk with me. I love God, He walks with you through the process. He doesn't throw out your stuff, He'll make you throw it out. That's why some of us are still holding onto it. He's been dealing with you for a while and you've been saying, "No, no, I really Jesus, I'm really, I need this."

He'll say, "No, that's got to go. I have another plan for you. I have another purpose for you." You ever have some of those piles and all you've done is stack junk, organized junk? It's neat, but it's organized junk. He wants to go through it. You'll be surprised. Try it, some of you who are living in clutter right now, try it. I dare you to just take some of those piles, go to that drawer that's full of stuff or whatever, and then just go in there and start looking and see what you need and see what you no longer need.

Have the courage to look at it. You'll be surprised how much stuff is in these piles. The things you need, you didn't even know where they were anyway. You didn't know where it was because it was thrown in some drawer somewhere. Until somebody comes into your house to help you, until you and your family make up your mind to do it, you won't even know yourself where the things are that you really do need to know. So Jesus comes in and He helps you identify things you really need to be in touch with about yourself, and you're not in touch with them.

And then, of course, the challenge then is to put it somewhere where from now on you'll know where it is. 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.

Zacchaeus, we know this happened with him. Look at what happens when he welcomes Jesus into his life. We're told here that while the people were muttering. Listen, when you surrender your life to Jesus, folk are going to talk because it really will change you. It'll change your life. Don't expect people to all understand what God's doing in your life. Some will rejoice, but others will do just like this. They muttered and they said, "Now look at this. Jesus calls himself so holy, He's gone home to be a guest of a sinner."

That's why He came. Why would God come from heaven to hang out with folk who are pretending to be righteous? He came to find folk who knew the house of their life is jacked up. He comes to revolutionize their lives. Sure He's going home to be a guest of a sinner. I want to let you know Jesus is at home in you. He's at home. All of your junk, all of your stuff, He's at home. That's why He came. Your stuff doesn't shock God. It shocks you when you get in touch with it. It doesn't shock Him, He knew it was there.

No need of shutting the door, locking the door, hoping Jesus walks past it. He knows what's in there and He walks right up to it and says, "Let's go in here today. This year we're going in this room." He won't knock the door down. He'll just deal with you. How many of us know He's patient and long suffering? Because some of us God's been dealing with us about a room for a while and you keep hoping He'll forget about it. He'll get you to have the courage to open that door, that room full of junk and embarrassing things, things you don't even want to face.

The Bible says the Holy Spirit comes alongside you. He'll come alongside you and say, "Come on, we can go on in here. Wait until you see what I'm going to do with this room. Wait until you see the changes I can make." I want to let you know you don't have to be ashamed of your life. Jesus is coming to move in and to make changes. He welcomed Him, the people talked, and look at the changes starting immediately. Zacchaeus stood up and said, "Lord, here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor."

Right away, he knew. Some things are obvious. Some things you don't even have to wait to be convicted about. A lot of folk love saying, "Well, God hasn't dealt with me about that." I've had people tell me that across the years. "Well, we don't feel dealt with about that." I never forget years ago when I was associate pastor in Philadelphia. A couple was in the church and they wanted to be in the choir. They just came to the church and they were so excited about the church and they wanted to be in the choir.

So I said, "Well, tell me a little bit." I was doing the music and wanting to make sure that I knew the folks who were going to be ministering in the music area of the church. So we talked and long story short, I discovered that they were a couple living together but they were unmarried. I said, "The Word speaks about the fact that we ought to get married and that's the proper way to live together. If you all are willing to do that, thank God you've come into the fellowship. Listen, here in our church, we can get you married in a hurry."

You don't have to wait for some big production. Go get yourself a license and I'll marry you right here in the office and we can get this all done. They said, "No, we're not getting married." I said, "Well, then so what's the plan in terms of your living arrangement?" They said, "Well, what do you mean?" I said, "You can't participate in the ministries of this church when you're living in this kind of lifestyle." So they were highly offended and they said, "We thought that your church was loving."

I said, "And we are. We love God and we love people. Part of the way we love people is we lovingly preach the Word of God and then we lovingly offer ourselves to help people as they transition into a life of obedience into God's will. We're not passing some sort of harsh, unreasonable judgment on you. But in this case, this is something pretty open and shut. Do you lack understanding of what the Bible teaches about this? If not, I'll take some time and walk you through the scriptures. I'd love to help you understand this."

They didn't want to understand. They wanted me to get out of their business. I said, "Well, I have to tell you, we're not the kind of church that can let you just come in and do your thing. We're sincere. We're not perfect, but we're trying to live in obedience to God and we have some standards that come from the Word of God, we didn't create them." So in a huff, they left.

Announcer: In case you joined us late, you're listening to Destined for Victory, featuring the teaching ministry of Pastor Paul Sheppard. Stay with us. The second half of today's message is straight ahead. One of the things we love to do for friends and listeners like you is to pray for you when you're in need. So if you have a prayer request, please visit pastorpaul.net and use the contact feature to share it with us. Our ministry team is always happy to lift you up in prayer. And of course, when you stop by our website, remember that's where you can listen to the broadcast on demand at your convenience. That's pastorpaul.net. God is graceful enough to forgive your sin, but He's true enough to call it sin. He never helps you feel good about doing bad and neither will Pastor Paul Sheppard. Let's join him now for the rest of today's Destined for Victory message, "No Time to Waste."

Paul Sheppard: One of the things they said in the process was, "We don't feel convicted about it." I suppose their point was, so if we don't feel bad about the way we're living, it can't be wrong. Let me tell you something, you can feel great about the way you're living. But if the Bible says it's against the will of God, you don't need to be convicted. God doesn't have to send some special conviction to make you feel bad because repentance isn't the result of emotion. It's the result of an encounter with truth and awareness that I'm going in the wrong direction and light has shown on my path.

And guess where the light comes from? From the eternal Word of God. The light isn't a feeling. The light is God's Word. God's Word is forever settled in heaven. You know why I can preach out of this so strongly? Because this is what's going to judge us in the end. So you say, "That Pastor Paul, he's real tough on some of those things." Well, you ought to thank God for that because if you go somewhere where they're preaching Gospel light, less filling, tastes great, never challenged about your lifestyle, about your issues, about your attitude, you won't be ready for judgment.

You'll have a bunch of sin that's settled into your life and you go to church so that somebody can make you feel good about your junk. I want to let you know that this Word says God has a plan to revolutionize us. You see that conviction doesn't have to come. Once you encounter truth, you're responsible to God. The Bible says that Zacchaeus declares, "Half of what I have I'm going to give." Talk about tithing, we are trying to get people to tithe and this man says instantly, off the bat, half of it I'm bestowing upon the poor.

And he says, "And if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I'll pay back four times the amount." Well, we know he cheated some folk out of some things by virtue of his very job. I'm sure that these words come from the fact that Zacchaeus doesn't have any ability to discover, to encounter, to audit the people who he has cheated. He waits for them to come. But he says, "When I become aware of individuals who have been cheated as a result of my former lifestyle, I will restore to them not just what was cheated, but four times."

Talk about IRS in reverse. You know how the IRS, if you do something wrong, you not only have to pay the taxes they finally figured out you owed them, but then now there's penalties and interest. This is in reverse. He says, "If I cheated you, I'm going to give you four times." Why? Because he realizes that this man who is moving into my life is more important than anything I possess. This shows me that you've got to not only get right with God, but you've got to get right with people.

Folks, we don't have time to waste. If you owe somebody an apology, today. You don't pray about, think about, maybe saying, "I'm sorry." If you were wrong, you were wrong. Sometimes you say, "Well, I'm not sure who's at fault." Okay, I got a scripture for you. Matthew chapter 5 will show you that you don't even have to have it all figured out in terms of who's wrong, who's right. Matthew chapter 5, verse 23. "Therefore if you are offering your gift at the altar," you're going on trying to praise God, you're here singing, praising God, working in ministry, doing good in your community, operating your business, working in your company.

Whatever you're doing, you're just going on trying to be an okay believer, offering your gift at the altar, giving God my time, my talent, my treasure. "And there remember that your brother has something against you." All you have to do is know that there's a problem, is what Jesus says. You don't even have to know who started the problem, who exacerbated the problem. So it's not a matter of well, see they were, actually, if you really want to get down to it, they ought to be coming to me.

Jesus said, "If you remember there's a problem, your brother has something against you, there's an issue here." He says, "Leave your gift in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled, and then come offer your gift." What if I know exactly what they did? They offended me, they disrespected me, they mistreated me, they did whatever they did. Well, then the Word tells you to go to them. A couple of different places the Bible says go to them. One is in Matthew chapter 18, beginning at verse 15. "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you."

If you've been talking about somebody who wronged you, disrespected you, mistreated you, abused you, neglected you, you've been talking about them, Jesus said, "No, talk to them. Go and show, just between the two." See, that's rough, isn't it? But it's right. For people who say, "Yeah, but see, I've got some things I really need to get off of my chest." Luke 17, verse 3. "So watch yourselves." Jesus said to His disciples, "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to the person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin."

The goal is for us to be right with God and for us not to be an offense to other people who are seeking to live a life that pleases God. In that context He says, "So watch yourself. Make sure you are neither offended and not having anything done about it, or you are offending others and not caring about it." He says, "Watch yourself." And then look at what He says for people who say, "There's some things I really need to get off of my chest. If your brother sins, rebuke him."

If someone sins against you, rebuke them. You don't have to be a mealymouthed Christian. Weakness is not meekness. Bible calls us to be meek, but not weak. If you offend me, I can tell you off in Jesus' name. But I do it without sinning. You say, "How do you tell somebody off without sinning?" You focus on the issue. Because the problem is the issue that separates us, that divides us. When I sin and tell you off, I talk about things other than the issue. I talk about how I never liked you. First time I saw you, there was something about you and something told me, but no, I didn't listen to it. I gave you a chance.

Now you're in sin. From there you go to talk about people's mamas and you call them out of their name. But when you rebuke a person, you're focused on what they did or said, didn't do, didn't say, that is the offense. The goal of rebuke is enlightenment in preparation hopefully for repentance. I rebuke you so that you can see clearly. I've got to make sure you see clearly what I see, how wrong you are, and you can tell people, "I do not deserve to be mistreated like that. I resent being spoken to like that. I resent being ignored like that. I deserve more than that."

Tell them how you feel. Right there in your Bible, rebuke them. But the goal is reconciliation. You know that from the next thing Jesus said. "And if he repents, forgive him." You're still open to that. When you're in sin, you want to tell them off and walk out. And that's it. I'm through with you, through with your whole family, all of you. You used to like your cousin, but because they're your cousin, that's it. Come on, I preach where people live. You know we go through those kind of changes. You write off the whole bunch of them. What the rest of them do to you?

No, if they repent, forgive them. Because if God treated you like that, you'd be in bad shape. He's the God not only of a second chance, He's the God of another chance. And so you don't have time to waste getting things right with God, letting Him change your life, and getting things right with other people. You've got an apology to give, give it now. Got a talk to have, have it now. A letter to write, an email to send, do it now so that today your life will be pleasing to God.

Announcer: It's true what they say, whatever must happen ultimately should be done immediately. Today is the day of salvation, for repentance, for anything the Lord is asking you to do. Thanks for being with us for today's Destined for Victory message, "No Time to Waste." 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's pastorpaul.net.

In fact, at one point they asked, "Lord, when are You going to come? When's the Kingdom going to be established? Would You give us Your timetable?" Jesus said, "It's not for you to know the time. That's in the Father's hand." But He is coming again. That's tomorrow in Pastor Paul Sheppard's message, "Jesus in High Definition." Join us for an up-close and personal look at our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But until then, remember, He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.