Destined for Victory

Paul Sheppard: God put you in a perfect position to do his will. Whatever you don't have, you don't need. God made you just the way you are. He can use you just the way you are. He can get something done through you that he can't get done through some of the cute folks.

Announcer: God made you just the way you are with unique gifts and talents, and he wants you to use them for his glory. Hello and thanks for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory, where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Sheppard.

You know, God wants to help you grow in your faith, and he will, but in the meantime, he wants to use you right now, exactly as you are. Keep that in mind as you follow along with us today. To hear any of our recent messages on demand, including today's, visit PastorPaul.net. That's PastorPaul.net. And if you haven't already, don't forget to download our free mobile app. That's a great way to listen on demand. Just search Destined for Victory at the App Store. Now, let's listen closely to Pastor Paul's message, "The Center of God's Will."

Paul Sheppard: Romans chapter 12, beginning with verse three, reading through the first part of verse six. "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, who are many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us."

We'll pause there. We're continuing to talk about what it means to live in the center of God's will. And we have established the fact that living in the center of God's will is governed by a few principles. The first is surrender to God. Paul said in verse one of chapter 12, "Present your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. This is your spiritual act of worship."

And so we said that the first principle for governing your life by the will of God is the principle of surrender to God. We do that by offering ourselves to God and by renewing our minds so that we begin to think in accordance with the word and the will of God. Currently, we are on point number two.

The second governing principle for life in the will of God is sober thinking about ourselves. Sober thinking about ourselves. We established the fact that God has called us not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. God wants you, if you suffer with this, he wants you to be delivered from conceit.

God wants you to get free from the thought process that would have you believing that you are all that. And we talked about that in depth in the second installment in this series. As I wrap up this point, I want to say that some of us suffer with low self-esteem. Now I talked extensively about conceit, but the reality is some of us suffer with low self-esteem.

And you need to know that low self-esteem has the same root problem as conceit. They're the same problem inverted. The same thing. You know what the problem is? Self-preoccupation. Both the conceited person and the person who suffers with low self-esteem think too much about him or herself.

One bunch thinks, "I'm all that, and it's too bad the rest of the world isn't like I am." That's the conceited person. The person with low self-esteem says, "I wish I was like everybody else, or at least some of the other folks. I don't have. I wasn't given the same chances in life. I don't have the same opportunities.

Look at them. They have money; I'm broke. They have good looks; I'm either plain or some would say I'm ugly. You know, they have a good education and I didn't do well in school. I never was a good test taker. They always seem to get the promotions on the job. I'm always overlooked. I don't know why people always overlook me."

And they go on and on and on with their sad story. And I want to let you know if you have low self-esteem and you are a child of God, God has as strong a word for you as he has for the conceited person. It's time for you to get your focus off of yourself and on why God made you and how he designed you and how you can fulfill his purpose for your life.

I want to say to you, if you suffer with low self-esteem, it's because you are defining your life in an improper manner. You're letting other people and what they have or don't have define you. God has not called you to compare yourself with the rest of the world. That's a faulty standard.

The world is passing away and everything in it, the Bible says in one place. It's only those of us who do the will of God that are going to enjoy his blessings forever. And so I want to encourage you, my friend, there's only one being who is qualified to define you and that's God himself.

Don't give away your sense of self by looking at other people and comparing yourself to other people. Don't allow yourself to think you are less than because there are some circumstances you're looking at. The reality is God put you in a perfect position to do his will. Whatever you don't have, you don't need.

Somebody missed it, so let me say it again. Whatever you don't have, you don't need. If you're not all that fine, God doesn't need you to be all that fine. Come on, somebody. He doesn't need you to be all of that. In fact, there's a whole lot at the store that'll help you out. And so you can help yourself as much as you want, but when it's all said and done, God made you just the way you are.

He can use you just the way you are. He can get something done through you that he can't get done through some of the cute folks. And so you have to be content that I am who God said I am. I can do what God said I can do. And he says some wonderful things when you get into his word, which is where your definitions are.

You want to look for the dictionary of your life? It's in your Bible. Your Bible defines your life. It tells you things like you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. You can do everything God has called you to do. You'll never get to stand before God one day and say, "You know, I really would have gotten something done if you had hooked me up with a little bit more."

You can do all that God has called you to do. And so I want to encourage you, if you suffer with low self-esteem, you've got to understand that you're a child of God. Do you know what that means? That means that you are born again of spiritual seed, of incorruptible seed. The devil can't take you out.

You belong to God and he is going to get his will and his purpose done in your life. And if you haven't yet noticed, your Bible is full of people who would have disqualified themselves were it not for God's grace. Look at people like Moses. Remember him?

Now see, we think he's the great lawgiver and we look at, you know, you see the Ten Commandments movie and you see Charlton Heston. And he looks like a man of God. You know, and he walks with power and authority and all that. Beautiful movie, but you've got to understand Moses didn't start out with all that confidence in God.

When we find Moses on the backside of the desert of Midian, he's tending his father-in-law's sheep. And when God calls him through a burning bush and tells him, "I'm sending you to Pharaoh," the Bible says Moses told God why he couldn't go. He said, "Lord, if you haven't noticed, I stutter."

He had a speech impediment, and he was hoping God would be convinced that that would disqualify him from going to Pharaoh. Well, do you know there were a whole lot of folk who didn't have a speech impediment that God didn't call?

Announcer: Still ahead, the second half of today's Destined for Victory message, featuring the teaching ministry of Pastor Paul Sheppard. If you enjoy listening to Pastor Paul, you may be glad to know that we've archived all of our recent messages at PastorPaul.net. That's PastorPaul.net.

You can also listen and subscribe to the podcast at Spotify or wherever you enjoy your podcasts. And all of us here at Destined for Victory want to make sure you know that the only reason we're able to bring you these messages the whole year through is because of listening friends and partners like you.

You are the ones who provide all of our financial support, and we're so grateful for all you've done. To give generously today, please visit PastorPaul.net or call 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-5500. You know, discovering God's will is one thing; living in it is another. Now, let's get you back to the rest of today's Destined for Victory message, "The Center of God's Will."

Paul Sheppard: God loves finding folk who have nothing but a stick and a stutter and turning them into a lawgiver. Because when he does it, they are not tempted to rob God of his glory. Like folk who said, "Well, see, I went to—I took a class on how to speak with authority and I'm the perfect person to go to Moses because I can speak with authority and confidence. They taught me how to put my speech together and how to give it some zingers and they taught me how."

And notice, God passed all those folk up and found somebody who said, "I can't do this." God said, "Good. So when you do it, you know who gets the glory." I want to say to those of you who think you can't get much done for God, you suffer with a poor background, you have some family dysfunction, you've got to understand God loves taking folk who come from dysfunctional backgrounds and raising them up.

Look at Joseph, whose own family deserted him. His brothers sold him into slavery. And he could have been in Egypt crying the blues. He could have been over there talking about, "See, look at what happened to me. I didn't even do anything to them. And I'm over here now. I'm in a whole another country. I don't even know what's going to happen with my life. I'm a slave."

Instead of that, the Bible says the Lord was with Joseph. I want to tell somebody who's suffering greatly because of your past. The question is not your past; the question is, is God with you? And if you've invited Jesus into your life and you've said, "God, whatever you can do through my life, I'm open for you to do it," I want you to know God's got big plans for you.

Because he raised that boy up from a pit. His brothers threw him in a pit. From a pit, he went into slavery. From slavery, Mrs. Potiphar hit on him, and he passed the test, and he did not sleep with her. And for his trouble, he got thrown into prison. Now, man, that's a low self-esteem's paradise.

Down in prison, you can really cry the blues and talk about how mistreated you are and how unfair it is. Listen, let me tell you something. Life is unfair sometimes. And God is a God of justice. And God will deal with everyone who has dealt injustice. You don't have to always see the victory happening in your lifetime.

Injustice is part of being in a sinful, fallen world. Now, as the church, we ought to fight for justice. We ought to fight for what is right. But let me give a word to somebody suffering injustice. Just because the system is against you, or some people are against you, or your race or your gender may be against you, God is for you.

And if God be for you, who can be against you? Oh, I don't have a lot of voice, but I feel like preaching. I want to let somebody know that God's got plans for your life and you cannot afford to let your circumstances define who you are. God's got a plan for you. God's got a purpose for you.

And God raised him up out of prison and before you know it, years later—it took years. God won't always come in a hurry. But you have to learn to practice his presence where you are and to rejoice and to know that your end is going to be better than your present. And when God got ready, he brought him up out of there.

Listen, when God brought Joseph out, he went from being a younger son in a dysfunctional family to being the prime minister of a country he wasn't even a natural citizen of. Don't tell me what God can't do. Anytime God can take a Canaanite—he's not even an Egyptian. He's a Canaanite ex-con, been in jail for years.

And the charge was attempted rape. That's a felony. Ex-con. Not on misdemeanors like, "Well, I just went in because I had tickets." No. No, this isn't tickets. This is a felony for years. And when he comes out, God makes him the prime minister of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself.

When God got through promoting him, he was higher than Potiphar and his nasty wife. Come on, somebody. God is able to lift you up from where you are to where he wants you to be. I got a word for somebody who's suffering from low self-esteem. I want to let you know that it's time for you to stop crying the blues and to begin to say, "God, whatever you can do through my life, I am a vessel.

Just go on and pour into me what you want to do and I will surrender myself to you." Don't talk about your sad story. Read the people in the Bible. Read about Gideon. When God came to him, he was a wimp. He was threshing wheat in a winepress. Now, you don't even have to know much to know that you don't thresh wheat in a winepress.

He was doing it because he and the Israelites were afraid of the Midianites and they were tired of being beat up. And you know, the Midianites would see them threshing their wheat and they'd beat them up and steal their wheat. So he's in a winepress trying to thresh wheat, which means you're supposed to throw it to the wind and let the wind divide the wheat from the chaff.

And so he's in there looking around hoping nobody sees him threshing his wheat. And the Lord sends an angel. And the angel says, "The Lord is with you, mighty man of valor." I told you God sees you differently than you see yourself. Now, he's acting like a wimp. He thinks he's a wimp.

God looks at that same man and calls him a mighty man of valor. I want to let you know God's not calling you what you're calling yourself. You're saying you're pitiful. God's saying you're powerful. You're saying you can't. God says you can. You're saying it's impossible. God says, "With me, nothing shall be impossible."

All I need is a vessel. That's all I need. I don't need somebody who thinks they know what to do. And so when God got through, you know Gideon gave his excuses just like Moses. He told God, he said, "Listen, I can't be the one who delivers Israel because I am from the least clan in my tribe and I'm the least in my family."

He said, "I am certainly—I'm the last guy in this whole bunch you want to call on." And God says, "Yeah, but you don't understand. Sometimes with me, I make the last first. I just turn the line around." Every now and then, God does that and you in the back of the line saying, "Oh Lord, I'll never get up there."

And then God just says, "Can I have everybody's attention? Would you all do an about-face? And now the last person is first." That's what he did with Gideon. And Gideon said, "Well, if it's really you calling me, Lord, prove it." And you know that story, he put out his fleeces. And he put out his little fleeces and God met him.

Now, don't you do that as a New Testament child of God. Don't say, "God, if you're really calling me, have my phone ring three times and then stop." Don't tempt God like that. Don't test him. He leads you by his word, he leads you by his spirit. You don't have to be a wimp and get God to prove himself to you.

You know his voice when you hear it. But he put up with that foolishness and he fulfilled his two requests. And then you would have thought Gideon's finally ready. But he said, "Well, I guess I better go out and get an army." And he went out and he did a pretty good job of recruiting. He went out and got 32,000 people.

That's pretty good. Especially for a wimp. That's pretty good recruiting. God looked at that and said, "Oh, see, Gideon's problem is he thinks he's supposed to win a battle. He doesn't know I chose him because he can't win a battle. And so if I make the mistake of winning this with his 32,000, he and the 32,000 will think they did it."

And one of the points I made in the second installment in the series is God resists the proud. He doesn't want people robbing him of his glory. So what he did was he said, "Gideon, let me tell you something. You have too many folks here." And I'm sure Gideon thought, "What do you mean I have too many folk?

There are hundreds of thousands of the enemy." Estimates are that their enemies' combined forces numbered nearly a million people. And so he's thinking, "What do you mean too many? I got 32,000 and we're talking about hundreds of thousands of people against us?"

God said, "You have too many. Go out and just tell them that not all of them really need to fight. And if it's really not in their heart to be in the army, it's okay, they can go home. Give them amnesty. Because some of them only out there because their wives made them feel so bad that the other men were going out."

You know how some of the wives were. They were in the house: "You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You see all those other men? Look out the window. They're all going down to the draft center and here you are sitting in here. Why don't you be a man for once in your life?"

And the man figured, "I'd rather be out there." And he got up and went for all the wrong reasons. And so when Gideon made the announcement, God said, "It's all right if y'all really don't want to be here, go home. You're honorably discharged." 22,000 of them said, "Thank you very much."

Went on back home. He's left with 10,000. And he's panicking, I'm sure at that point. He's like, "Oh man, 10,000 people." And God said, "Listen, you still have too many. Take them down to the water and watch them drink. And I want you to set them aside based on the way they drink."

Now for years, I preached that the 300 who drank like soldiers were the ones God selected. I have since revisited the text and realized that the 300 were the worst of the bunch. They were lapping the water in a way that the enemy could have snuck up on them. And so God said, "Give me the sorriest 300 and take the 9,700 and tell them thank you for being willing, but God can't use you."

And Gideon was left not with the 300 valiant. All they were, were willing. They weren't necessarily able. They weren't necessarily good. Not the kind of team you want to pick. But they were willing. You know why? Because that's a word to those of us who suffer from low self-esteem. God's not worried about what you don't have. He's only asking you to be willing.

Announcer: The moment you decide to start living in God's will, the enemy will immediately come in and try to throw you off balance. When that happens, remember these words from 1 John 4 verse 4: "Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world."

Thanks so much for being here with us for today's Destined for Victory message, "The Center of God's Will." If you joined us late or if you want to hear the full message one more time, visit PastorPaul.net. That's PastorPaul.net.

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Paul Sheppard: In the kingdom of God, the only ability you need is availability. Here's Pastor Paul. They weren't necessarily able. They weren't necessarily good. Not the kind of team you want to pick. But they were willing. You know why? Because that's a word to those of us who suffer from low self-esteem. God's not worried about what you don't have. He's only asking you to be willing.

Announcer: That's tomorrow in our continuing message, "The Center of God's Will." Until then, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.