Destined for Victory

Paul Sheppard: So it's one thing to put off the old in your life in any area of your life. But it's another thing to be fully prepared to put on the new. And the way we prepare to put on the new, we are told here, is we have to have our new way of thinking to develop.

Guest (Male): If you want to change the way you behave, change the way you think. Hello and thanks for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard. Romans 12:2 tells us not to be conformed to the image of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. But what does this look like in day-to-day life and how can it help us put on the new self?

Answers come your way next. But if you can't stay with us, be sure to visit pastorpaul.net. That's where you can listen to any recent message on demand, including today's. That's pastorpaul.net. You can also subscribe to the podcast at Spotify or wherever you enjoy your podcasts. Now let's listen closely to Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message, "The Process of Becoming New."

Paul Sheppard: Now we move on and look at the second step or the second stage in this journey of becoming new. And Paul calls it, here's the way I'm putting it: developing a new way of thinking. That's what I want to talk to you now about because that's what the Apostle Paul tells us. You can't just put off the old without developing a new mind, a new attitude, a new way of thinking about how you move forward. Just give me some time to unpack that here. And then you will see, without that step, you can't go from old to new and be successful.

If you could, Paul would say it's a two-stage process: put off the old, put on the new. Notice he didn't say that. He said put off the old and then you've got to change the way you think, the attitude of your mind, before you try to put on the new. Let me unpack that for you. It's the same thing Paul said to us in Romans chapter 12, verse 2. We are all familiar with verse one: "I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service," King James says. It means your spiritual act of worship.

Surrender is an act of worship, Paul said in verse one. And you present—don't make God have to try to snatch it from you—you present yourself as a sacrifice is what he said. Verse two, though, is very much as important as verse one. Verse two is the key to this whole concept we're talking about today, developing a new way of thinking. Look at verse two of Romans chapter 12: "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will."

You can't just do it, he said, by presenting yourself as a sacrifice. You then have to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. He said that's the only way you're going to approve and attest what is God's will, his good, pleasing, and perfect will. So it's one thing to put off the old in your life in any area of your life, but it's another thing to be fully prepared to put on the new. And the way we prepare to put on the new, we are told here, is we have to have our new way of thinking to develop.

Let me illustrate. Truth runs parallel. I've said that often over the years; it bears repeating now. Truth runs parallel. When you see a truth in the spiritual realm, it has parallels in other areas of your life. Truth just runs parallel like that. So you find a truth, you find a principle because principles are solid. Practices are many—one saying I've loved over the years—practices are many, principles are few. Practices often change, principles never do. So you've got to find a principle. When you find a principle, that's like hitting bedrock, and you can find ways to apply that in different ways.

So this is a principle Paul gives us: before you try to go from old straight to new, you've got to change your mind first. So let's apply that. Since it's a principle and it runs parallel, think about it in terms of money. You can't solve your money problem if you have a spending problem, if you have a lack of discipline problem. You might think you need to hit the lottery. I see people—have you ever been in 7-Eleven? You see folks over there in that little machine. I was in there the other day, and they were lined up for the little machine so they can take money they already don't have and over there trying to hit. "Oh, if I can just get these numbers to hit."

You don't need a hit; you need a renewed mind. Why? Because if you did hit and you don't have a renewed mind, you now have more to misuse. You do know that all money does is give you the opportunity to show who you really are. That's all it does. So broke folks have some problems you don't know because they don't have enough to show you they've got problems. If you want to see how jacked up somebody is, let them get ahold of some money and see how they misuse it, misappropriate it, how they make wrong decisions with it. And then we pass that junk on to children, and we have generations of people who have a poverty mentality.

The problem isn't money. I heard somebody say the Bible said money is the root of all evil. No, it doesn't. Paul said to Timothy, "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil." It's loving it. Money is a wonderful slave; it's just a horrible master. When you renew your mind and get money, you tell the money where it's really supposed to go and you handle it right if you have the renewed mind that Paul is talking about here. You would handle it right.

I told God when I first got to California in 1989—I left a good job, associate pastor of a thousand-member church in Philly. My dad was the senior pastor. I left there coming out here to chase this dream. I landed with 34 members and a smaller salary. And they told me, "Pastor, when you share this vision—I met with them before I accepted the call and shared this vision—the Lord said thousands are going to come before he's done with my ministry." And they said, "This is all we can pay you right now, but when those thousands come, we're going to hook you up."

They used my vision against me! I said, "That's lame." As soon as God fulfills that word, we're going to hook you up, Pastor. Meanwhile, here you go: $24,000 a year was what they gave me in 1989. Twenty-four thousand a year. That was $2,000 a month. Somebody said, "You tithe?" I couldn't afford not to tithe. I had to believe God every day of my life. And the fact of the matter is, I told God through those years—I had the second worst car in the church. Folk driving into the lot, all the cars were better except one than mine.

We had one sister whose car was more jacked up than mine. I was so glad. I didn't want to be the pastor who had the worst car in the church. So I was a little better to have the second worst car in the church. She's with me to this day. She said, "You're so lame." I said, "I don't call your name." And the fact of the matter is, I told God in those years, "I'm going to pass this poverty test really faithfully so when you're ready to give me the prosperity test, I will be able to pass that too." I did tell him that. I said, "Lord, I'm going to be faithful over these few things because I'm looking for the many." So don't y'all run up on me when you see me driving right. I paid my dues. I was faithful in the lean years.

Guest (Male): Let's pause right there for just a moment. We'll be right back with the second half of today's Destined for Victory message with Pastor Paul Sheppard. Fulfilling the Great Commission is not something any one person or any one ministry can do alone. God has commissioned pastors, teachers, and missionaries to do their part, but he also encourages listening friends and partners like you to do yours. And we're so grateful for what you've done in his name. Your prayers and donations reach people all over the world with the love of Jesus Christ. Let's keep that momentum going, and let's do it together. To make a safe and secure donation online, go to pastorpaul.net or call 855-339-5500. Now let's get you back to the rest of today's message, "The Process of Becoming New."

Paul Sheppard: We had one nice car that I drove across the country from Philly. My wife and two small kids, so she had the nice car. That was one of the rules of marriage. She had little kids to take care of; she had the nice car. I'd see her going by looking real good; I'd say, "God bless you." And I had that '84 Ford Escort. Spring started coming through the driver's seat, sticking me while I'm trying to drive. But you've got to be faithful. Some of y'all trying to wear hundred-dollar hats on nickel heads. You've got to be faithful in the few things.

So if you get money and you don't renew your mind, all you're going to do is mess it up. Look at the statistics of how many people hit the lottery big and they're broke today. Why? Because they didn't know how important it is to transform, renew your mind. And they don't live by the word. The word automatically teaches you the kind of values you need in order to truly prosper. The Bible talks about prosperity. It talks about, for instance, in Joshua chapter 1, there's a verse that says if you obey God's word, keep his commands, you will have good success. You know what that means? That there is a success that is not good. You can have money and it's not good.

So you've got to understand that truth runs parallel. If you get money and don't change your mind, you're going to be messed up. So get your priorities right. Grown folk, teach your children. I'm so glad I was raised early on. Honor God and do right, and don't try to live beyond your means. It'll come, but practice delayed gratification. And then you've got to learn how to discipline your life in that area. Another parallel example would be weight loss. A lot of y'all like me have had weight loss journeys off and on through your years.

If you are a person that has ever lost weight, you should know if you don't also renew your mind—I'm glad for this help. If you don't renew your mind, you can take Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, whatever it is you choose to take, and it'll work for you while it's a program. You follow the program, it'll get you where you're going. But if your mind doesn't get renewed, how many of you all like me have known what it is to see the weight reappear? Reappear! Why? Because the mind wasn't renewed. The program was followed, but the mind renewal will help you deal with things like, what are the triggers that have you eating emotionally rather than intentionally eating certain things?

How many of you all like me during COVID—which is still with us, but especially for me the first two years of COVID—so shocked my system. You were part of our church, well, some of you are new. But the folk who were with us in March of 2020 when this thing first set in, I was shocked. I was like a deer in headlights. What do you mean I'm a pastor who can't meet with my people? I've been a pastor since my 20s in Philly. What are you talking about I can't meet with my people? That's what pastors do.

And I found myself like everybody else, preaching to a camera. And first they wouldn't even let us come to church. I remember here in the Bay Area because we were the first place in the country that had stay-at-home orders. That first happened here. And they said, "Don't leave." They practically put us under house arrest. And my son-in-law had a camera, and we'll set it up with the internet and you're going to be on the camera. I said, "I don't see them. They're looking at me, I guess, but I don't see them." And there I was in my living room for a few weeks with them pitiful messages. Y'all tried to encourage me, "Oh, Pastor, that was good." It was pitiful.

I'll tell you myself, it was pitiful. I hated the messages because I didn't feel like church. I was giving the information, but I'm used to interacting and I'm a comedian, so imagine a comedian on a stage and nobody sitting out there. So that's what it felt like to me. I don't get to do what I do while I give them the word. And so I started eating emotionally. And that happened for 22, the first 22 months of the thing. I was kind of spiraling because I just couldn't get my mind around what is this going on.

And finally, I got to a place where I said to myself—it was New Year's Eve 2021, getting ready to come into '22—I said, "Enough is enough." I had gotten to the heaviest weight I had ever been in my life. And I said, "Either I'm going to have to buy a new wardrobe or I'm going to have to stop this." And so you can't just take the program; you've got to renew your mind. And I said, "Lord, help me. I know how to do it—Weight Watchers or whatever. I know how to do it. It's not hard. But getting the head right." I'm telling on me so you can sit there and relax. You see the method to my madness.

Because you've got areas, whether it's your money, whether it's your weight, you've got something where you've got your same problem: I need to change the way I think. I need to let the word of God help renew my mind. And I said New Year's Eve 2021, "Okay." I was praying, "Lord, you're going to have to help me." And I spent the first 10 days of January 2022 praying, "Lord, help me to get to the place where my head is ready, my mind is renewed." Ten days into the new year, it locked in.

And I started eating what I knew I should eat and practicing what I knew I should practice. But I said, "Lord, this time when it goes away, I want you to help me so that it never comes back." And that takes the renewing of the mind. And so I'm saying this so that whatever areas of your life you have to join me in that same discipline—whatever the discipline is to be applied in your life—what are the things where I can't just put off the old bad eating and then jump into Nutrisystem or whatever it is for you? It's a psychological way of doing what the Bible says, changing your way of thinking about the food.

Because how many know when you have triggers, well, you're going to have to change your mind because the trigger stuff is going to keep happening. How many know that? Some folk say, "I eat when I'm happy." "When else do you eat?" "When I'm sad." Do you know how often you either going to be happy or sad? You can't just wait until I'm neither happy nor sad to get myself together. Be like that R&B song, I think Babyface wrote it, "I only think of you on two occasions. That's day and night." Oh, you can be that way with some food. Come on, I need some honest people. You ever been emotionally triggered? You think of food on two occasions. You think of cake on two occasions. You think of pie on two occasions. You think of fried foods on two occasions. You think of sweets on two occasions.

You've got to let the word of God renew your mind. Money, food, whatever the issue, you can apply it to a lot of different areas of your life. You'll never get your assets, your associations, your actions, and your attitudes together until your mind is renewed.

Guest (Male): Thanks so much for being here with us for today's Destined for Victory message, where we feature the teaching and preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Sheppard. Before we sign off, I want to just say thank you to all of you who responded to the current financial needs of this ministry. As you may have heard, Destined for Victory lost a major source of funding at the end of the year, and your help is still needed to help close that gap and help us remain on this station.

When you give today, we'll say thank you with a brand new booklet, one that will challenge you to persevere through unwanted changes or a past you can't quite shake. It's called Keep Moving Forward. Drawing from Israel's transition from Moses to Joshua, this booklet will help you understand that God will go before you as your leader and your protector, even when you're facing new challenges. Again, it's called Keep Moving Forward, our gift to you as you financially give to help this ministry keep moving forward into the brand new year of 2026.

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.

Paul Sheppard: Some of you all listening to this message have a victim mentality that you've got to get rid of if you're going to walk with Jesus. You've got to stop blaming the world for your troubles, and you've got to realize that you have a Savior who not only wants to give you eternal life but wants to give you abundant life—life to the full.

Guest (Male): That's next time on our Destined for Victory message, "The Process of Becoming New." Until then, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.