Destined for Victory

Paul Sheppard: 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.

Guest (Male): There's no better place to be than right in the middle of God's will. But how do we get there? Hello and welcome to Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard. Thanks for making us part of your day. Well, Pastor Paul says there are three keys to being in the center of God's will. The first is surrendering to God. The second is being humble. The third involves our relationship with others.

Coming your way next, a wonderful reminder of what God can do through you even when the odds are stacked against you. Now remember, you're always invited to come see us at pastorpaul.net where you can listen to your recent message on demand, including today's. That's pastorpaul.net. You can also subscribe to the podcast at Spotify or wherever you enjoy podcasts. Now let's listen closer to Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message, The Center of God's Will.

Paul Sheppard: 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 folks? 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 have 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 at them. Just look out the window. They're all going down to the draft center and here you are sitting in here. You need to be a man for once in your life."

The man figured he'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 alright if you all really don't want to be here, go home. You're honorably discharged. 22,000 of them said, "Thank you very much," and 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. And with 300 willing souls, God destroyed hundreds of thousands of the enemy. I want somebody to understand once and for all that you will never again put yourself in the position where you will allow other people to determine how you feel about yourself.

I want to say to somebody who's been quit on, somebody walked off and left you, if they walk off and leave you, they walked off and left God's child, somebody who loves God and God loves them back. I want to let you know, just because he's gone, God's still with you. Don't sit in your house crying the blues because he left, singing sad songs. I'll never forget years ago, Natalie Cole sang a song. It was the most pathetic song. She talked about a man leaving, I don't even remember the title of it, but one of the sets of lyrics was, "Why should I comb my hair when I'm not going anywhere?"

She was just talking about what point is it in getting fixed up? I don't have a man in my life, he's gone. Listen, you need to understand the reason why you need to comb your hair is because it needs combing. You don't comb it because somebody's going to be looking at you. Comb it because it needs to be combed. Get up, fix yourself up, get in the shower and bathe yourself and fix yourself up. And get out there and say, "God, my life is not over yet until You say it's over. I'm going to walk on and see what the end's going to be."

I want to let somebody know that you're letting the wrong folk define you. Don't let somebody tell you you feel pretty once they tell you you're pretty. No, you were pretty before that. He just noticed it. You appreciate him noticing, but it's alright. And that way if he calls you ugly, you say, "Well no, I don't see that in my Bible. Pastor told me that the Bible defines me, so I'm looking all through here. I haven't found out that God called me ugly yet." It's not registering on God's radar. Whatever I don't have, I might not be looking like some Hollywood somebody, but I'm equipped to do what God has called me to do.

Let me tell you something, folks. God has a word for both the conceited and the people with low self-esteem. And that word is: get over yourself. Get over yourself. You are preoccupied with the wrong person. You want to become preoccupied with doing the will of God because blessed is the man and woman who does the will of God. Low self-esteem is as large a challenge as conceit. To both people God says, "I have plans that call for you to think soberly about yourself." Surrendering to the will of God and thinking soberly about yourself are important principles for life in the will of God.

The third principle for life in the will of God is service to others. When Paul writes on beginning at verse four of Romans 12, he begins to talk about the fact that each of us has one body with many members. He says in that same way, so in Christ, we all are many and we form one body. Each member belongs to all the others. The fact of the matter is God has called you and called me to serve the needs of other people. God loves people and so when God designs you, He designed you for the purpose of making a difference in the lives of other people.

Now we got to get this because we live in a "bless me, bless me, bless me" society. Everybody wants God to bless me and we must understand yes, God is good and He will bless His children. But He doesn't exist to bless you. You exist to be used of Him to bless others. And so you got to get it straight. Yes, blessings will come into your life, but they ought to be byproducts. Don't center all your praying on bless me. You want to get your life in order, pray more for other people than you do for yourself. Say, "God bless them."

Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Many of us are praying "bless me" prayers too much because the focus is still on us. Yes, God will meet your needs. Yes, God will give you some of the desires of your heart. But you are authorized to pray, "Thy kingdom come, Lord. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Make a difference in this world for Your own kingdom sake." And so Jesus said the promise you really want to focus on is "seek first the kingdom of God." The kingdom of God is about people. God loves people.

God loves people that nobody else loves. God loves people who aren't necessarily lovable. Because if you're left to pick the folk you love, well, you'll leave a lot of folk off. So God says, "When I come into your life, I'm going to teach you to love people the way I love them. And the way you're going to love them is first through serving their needs." And Paul goes on to describe the fact that all of us have gifts. You are a designer's original. God gifted you to do some things no one else is called to do.

Everything about you has prepared you to be used of God in a certain way. There are people you can reach that I cannot reach. They're not in my sphere of influence and even if they were in my sphere of influence, I wouldn't impact their lives the way you can. And so each of us is important in the body of Christ. I want to encourage you, do not give up your calling for anyone else. Don't try to become like someone else. Become the person God called you to be because He has shaped you to make a difference.

Paul goes on and just gives us a sampling of the kinds of gifts that are in the body. This is just a small list. There are at least four lists of gifts in your New Testament and this is just one of them here in Romans 12 where he says, "If your gift is prophesying, do it in proportion to your faith. If your gift is serving, then serve. If your gift is teaching, then teach. If your gift is encouraging, then encourage. If it is contributing to the needs of others, then give with generosity. If it is leadership, govern diligently. If it is showing mercy, do it cheerfully."

In other words, Paul is saying the person who has mercy, don't spend your time looking at someone who has leadership wishing you were a leader. God didn't make you for that purpose. And we don't need that many leaders anyway. One of the problems is sometimes everyone clamors for the showy gifts and no one is doing the behind-the-scenes work. But in order for ministry to go forward, somebody's got to exercise their gift of serving. That means that God has equipped you to just get in there and see what's not being done and you knock it out.

Now when you have that kind of gift, you're valuable. I can say this as a leader in the body of Christ, that neither I nor anyone else who leads can be effective unless there are people who pick up the pieces, who catch what falls through the cracks, who says, "This isn't being done, that's not being done, and let me jump in here and see how I can make it happen." I want to let you know you are valuable in the kingdom of God. You might not be up front, they might not call your name, but one day God's going to look at you and say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

You've got to learn to serve and wait on God for your reward. Now people ought to appreciate you, but don't go on a strike if they don't appreciate you. Have you ever seen that happen? Not you, but people I know. They'll serve for a while and then maybe their name gets left off of a list on appreciation day. And they get the list and flip it over and say, "I don't believe these people left my name off. And look whose name they have on here. She didn't even come to half of the stuff we were doing."

God is looking at your service when it's rendered with a heart for Him. And He says, "They may have accidentally left you off, but I know exactly who you are and one day I'm going to bless you because of your service." If you're showing mercy, some people that's your gift, showing mercy. And God knows we need it because today's world you will have a whole bunch of wounded feelings. And you need somebody who will come along and have that ability to pick you up when you've fallen.

There are those people in the body of Christ, and God knows we need them because the world beats you up and sometimes you get beat up in the body of Christ. Did you not know that not all the saints are particularly nice? By the time you get through dealing with rude people and arrogant people, people who don't have the grace for dealing... Some folk have to deal with people, but they haven't learned the grace for it yet. And so they mistreat you and don't speak to you right. God puts people in the body of Christ who will just see you with a bowed down head and they'll come alongside and help you know.

People with mercy and people with the gift of encouragement come along and let you know your life isn't over. Remember in the New Testament when Paul was through with John Mark? Acts chapter 15, he was getting ready to go on his second missionary journey. And Barnabas said, "Okay, I'll go get John Mark. We will roll." That's the paraphrase version. And Paul said, "No, wait. We're not taking John Mark. John Mark went the first time and he left us. Don't you remember, Barnabas, that he left us in the middle of the journey?"

It got a little thick out there, first missionary journey and they weren't staying in the Holiday Inn and the Westin and stuff. John Mark was used to staying at his mama's house. His mama was one of those pillars of the church in Jerusalem. Her house was where the saints met. In fact, in Acts 12 when Peter got bust out of jail by God, the prayer meeting for his life was taking place at John Mark's mother's house. John's used to the saints around him praying and all that, the comforts of a home.

After prayer meeting, you know they ate. That's how Christian folk do. They have prayer meeting, then they eat. John's used to all that and now he's out here on the road and they don't know when they're going to eat again and don't know where they're going to sleep. And folk are mad at them. "What you all doing coming to our town? You better get out here. You better be out of here by tomorrow." John said, "Oh no," and he left. Well, Paul's the kind of guy who doesn't play that.

Paul's like, "Look, I'm out here, I'm sold out for God. And I need people who are sold out for God. I can't fool with these kind of folk." Barnabas is the son of encouragement. Barnabas is saying, "No, let's take him again. He's willing to go, which means he's willing to grow up. And we need to train him and we need to give him a chance to show us his growth." Paul said, "Read my lips. He's not going." Paul wasn't unsaved, but he didn't have the gift of mercy. He didn't have the gift of encouragement. So he needed to be paired with somebody who did.

Barnabas stood his ground and he said, "No, he needs to go." Paul said, "Well, he's not going with me." And see, the Bible says the contention was sharp between them. Why? Because a man who's on a mission and doesn't want to fool with inexperienced folk is having a conflict with a person who knows his purpose is to pick up people who have temporarily fallen. If all of us on a mission just step over all the folk who have fallen, now they're all strewn all across the floor laying out wounded and bleeding while we're going on doing our work for God.

God's got to have other people in the body who go and minister to these folk and talk to them. Paul loves you. Listen, he does love you. And then he's down there crying, "He don't love me." Paul loves you and he's just on a mission. Paul's a little special. He had to help him. So Barnabas stands his ground and said, "No, he needs to learn." And they ended up parting company and they did two different versions of the second missionary journey. Paul got another companion named Silas and Barnabas took John Mark and headed in a different direction, checking on the ministries.

As a result of somebody helping him, John Mark got on his feet. We know that because later on Paul himself writes and says John Mark has been profitable for me in ministry. But it took Barnabas to get him straight. Then once he was straight, then Paul's ready to receive him again. That's why you are important no matter what role you play because unless you fulfill your purpose, all of us are going to be handicapped. The people who give, gift of giving he mentions in here, are needed. We're all called to give generously, but there are people who are called to give so generously that their calling in life...

They see money they make primarily as being for the kingdom. So many of us start with a tithe, 10% and then build from there. And I encourage believers to start with a tithe, not because it's a legalistic obligation but because it's a great starting point for generosity. And then to ask God to help you to increase your giving regularly from there. God will bless you for that. But I know some people who don't give God 10, 15, 20%. I know some people who give God 50, 60, 70%. They have the gift of giving and it's their highest joy. They give so much until they have to be very prayerful because their first instinct is to give. And they have to wait and say, "Lord, okay, where do You want me to give and how much do You want me to give?"

Guest (Male): Thanks so much for being here with us for today's Destined for Victory message, The Center of God's Will. Always glad to have you with us. Well, as you may know, Pastor Paul Sheppard devoted his life to reaching the lost with the gospel and helping believers grow in their faith. But he never did it without help because he knew he needed it. We all do. Now many times over the years, I have had the chance to speak with Pastor about the power of partnership. I asked him what he would say to you our listening friends and partners and here's what he said.

Paul Sheppard: I want them to know your partnership is very, very important and necessary. When you think about it, starting way back, I'm thinking about Moses. He could not have been Moses without the partners God gave him. God raised up Joshua. The Bible called Joshua Moses' minister before it called him God's minister. And Joshua was one of those key people. Aaron, his brother, was one of his key partners. Every man or woman of God since then, all the way into of course when you get to the ministry of Jesus, Jesus Himself required partnership.

Isn't that amazing that the God-man needed partners? He took Peter, James, and John farther into the Garden of Gethsemane and He said, "Just stay here and watch with Me." And He cried and poured out His heart to get ready for that moment when He would lay down His life for us and He needed that partnership. He had Peter, James, and John. He also had Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Then when you look at the Apostles, there is no Paul without Timothy, without Silas, without Barnabas. All of us need partners. So the bottom line is I'm so grateful for every man, woman, boy, and girl who has become a partner for our ministry so you can keep on providing this platform so that we can reach even more people for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): Pastor Paul always made it clear that he wanted Destined for Victory to continue long after his preaching days were over. So today, your partnership with us is more important than it's ever been as we seek to build upon the strong legacy of faith he left behind. For as little as $20 a month, you can become a Destined for Victory partner today. And we want you to know that every penny of your donation will go towards advancing the gospel all over the world through our media ministry at Destined for Victory.

When you partner with us, we'll send you a few thank you gifts, including one of our most popular CDs, The Best of Let My People Smile. Call 855-339-5500 and find out more about how to become a Destined for Victory partner. You can make your pledge over the phone or mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California, 94538. You can also become a partner from our website, pastorpaul.net. Now if you can't become a monthly partner but would like to send a generous gift to the ministry today, we'd love to send you our latest booklet, Improving Your Serve. For more information about this outstanding resource, please stop by pastorpaul.net.

Paul Sheppard: When it comes to the kingdom of God, our serve is very important. You can't please God without getting good at dealing properly, correctly with people He loves. I say it a lot but it bears repeating: don't think you can love God and not care about people.

Guest (Male): That's tomorrow in our continuing Destined for Victory message, Improving Your Serve. But until then, remember He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in Christ. You are destined for victory.