Destined for Victory

Paul Sheppard: If you are kingdom first, if you are fully surrendered to the will of God, if you get your life lined up with the will of God, there is no good thing that he will withhold from you. No good thing.

Guest (Male): Sometimes God blesses us in spite of ourselves, but very often his blessing comes with a condition attached. Hello and welcome to another great day here on Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard. Well, God tells us in his word that when we fall down, he won't let us stay down.

If we're broken, he will help us put the pieces back together. If our enemies rise up against us, he will rise up against them. But there are a few things required of us on the front side of these blessings, and one of them is complete trust in God. So today, you'll be challenged to establish an unwavering faith in God and his promises.

We hope you'll stay with us, but if that's not possible today, please know that you can always visit pastorpaul.net where you can listen to Destined for Victory on demand. That's pastorpaul.net. Now, here's today's Destined for Victory message, "God Will Fix It for You."

Paul Sheppard: Esther chapter 6, verses 1 through 10. That night the king could not sleep, so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. It was found recorded that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.

"What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?" the king asked. "Nothing has been done for him," his attendants answered. The king said, "Who is in the court?" Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows he had erected for him.

His attendants answered, "Haman is standing in the court." "Bring him in," the king ordered. When Haman entered, the king asked him, "What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?" Now Haman thought to himself, "Who is there that the king would honor rather than me?"

So he answered the king, "For the man the king delights to honor, have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king's most noble princes. Let him robe the man the king delights to honor and lead him on the horse through the city gates, proclaiming before him, 'This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!'"

"Go at once," the king commanded Haman. "Get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king's gate. Do not neglect anything you have recommended." This passage preaches itself!

But as I close this series, I just want to tell you in no uncertain terms that God will fix it for you. That whatever it is that the enemy has plotted to bring you down and to disrupt God's plan and purpose in your life, God sees what your enemy has been doing. He has allowed you to go through a period of suffering, he has allowed you to experience some things, but just when he ordains, God is going to flip the script and God will fix it for you.

I grew up hearing the old saints saying things like that: "God's going to fix it for you." And as a kid, I didn't know what needed to be fixed. But you live life long enough and you come to realize you need a God who can fix it for you. The other thing the saints used to say is, "He may not come when you want him, but he's always on time." I'd always hear them saying things like that.

Why wouldn't he come when you want him? Because he has a timeline. God is doing things according to his purpose. When you see God act even in redemptive history, he never acts on our schedule. He acts on his. He calls it in the fullness of time. God has ordained a time for everything. Remember what Ecclesiastes 3 says: there is a time for everything, a season for every purpose under heaven.

When you're calling God late, that's because you don't have his schedule. You think he's late because you're thinking of when you want things to happen. But even when he is past what we call our deadline, God is on time, and he will fix it for you. I want to just underscore three things about what God did here for the Jews in Esther's time, and I'll let you go.

The first thing is God gave Esther a second dose of unusual favor. Now remember, the first dose of unusual favor we saw very early in the study. In fact, in the first message, we saw that God gave this young Jewish virgin the privilege of being the queen to Xerxes. God gave her favor in that she went from nothing, as it were, to being the queen. She went from nothing to the highest position a female could hold in that kingdom.

God can take you from nothing to the heights. God doesn't need your pedigree. He doesn't need to have set you up with all kinds of background. In fact, sometimes your background defies where God's going to let you end up. And that's what happened with her because she's a Jewish young woman. And he never bothered when he was having this—remember, when he was having that great big contest to see who was going to ultimately be the king—America's Next Top Queen.

When they were going through all of that, he never thought to ask what is the ethnicity of these women. He just wanted to see how fine they were and well-spoken they were and all of that. And the Lord gave her favor. There were other beautiful women in the kingdom, but God had a purpose for her beauty, and he anointed her beauty. And when he looked at Esther and spoke with her, he said, "This is the one."

I know some of you single sisters are believing God for that. "I want a man to look at me and say, 'This is the one.'" As long as you're doing your due diligence, go on and believe God. But make sure you're doing your due diligence now. I told you in the first message, don't just show up just as I am without one plea.

God used her beauty for his own purpose, and he gave her unusual favor in that he never inquired about ethnicity. Why? Because God was setting something up. Now here is my point: in fixing it for her, he gave her a second dose of unusual favor. Here's what I want you to leave knowing: you will not exhaust the goodness of God by your requests.

Some of us come from a mindset where we have a meager mentality. We don't think we deserve but so much. And so when God blesses you a little bit, you think, "Oh, that's plenty. I don't need any more." And I came to tell somebody it's time for you to shake that off! Because if you will seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, God's got all kinds of things he wants to add to your life.

God gave his only Son for your salvation. He wrapped himself up in flesh and came into this world through the womb of a virgin named Mary, lived a sinless life, died a substitutionary death. He let people that he loved spit on him and slap him and torture him to within an inch of his life all night long.

He went to that cross almost dead. You cannot imagine what he went through in order to die for your sins and mine. And he who spared not his only Son, will he not freely give you everything that is part of your spiritual inheritance, everything that he has ordained for your life?

I'm asking somebody to get rid of your spiritual welfare mentality. Stop acting like you're some case and any little handout you get—you want to be grateful for anything God does, but you also want to be a child who says, "I know my inheritance. I know my inheritance. I'm a child of God. I'm not behind, I'm ahead. I'm not below, I'm above. I'm blessed and not cursed. I'm highly favored of God."

I'm here to tell somebody, if you ask him for more than you have, you're not being presumptuous. You're being a child. You're being a child who knows your daddy got it like that. Got it like that. He can bless you more than you've been blessed. And you've got to make up in your mind, "I want everything God's got for me."

Now, see, it's important for you to distinguish people who are not kingdom first. They often go after stuff and all of that, but their priorities are out of line. See, James said, "You have not because you ask not." Then he said, "You ask and don't receive because you ask amiss." What you're asking for takes you away from the will of God.

But we who are kingdom first—that's why you've got to get settled into the will of God. You've got to decide, "My life's mission is to do the will of God. I'm here to please him. When that makes me unpopular with people, oh well. When that makes me get persecuted, oh well. But I'm here to please God."

You've got to be like Mordecai. "I live for God. I don't live for King Xerxes' commands. When he tells me to worship some raggedy man named Haman, I don't do that because I live for God." That's what you do. When they tell you on your job you've got to do something illegal to keep this job, well, I guess I'll be getting fired because I live for God!

You've got to make up in your mind. You can't even be slow to—"Well, I don't know what I should do." No, you've got to be like the three Hebrew boys. They said, "We are not slow to answer you in this matter. We can't do that. We can't bow to some statue."

And then they told the king in that day, they said, "Nebuchadnezzar, we are not slow to answer you. The God we serve is able to deliver us out of your hand and he will deliver us." They said, "But make sure—don't get it twisted—if not, if he chooses to let us burn for our convictions, we will do that."

That's where you and I have to live. We're so going to do the will of God that if it costs us our lives—because, listen, throughout the centuries, there have been martyrs. Heaven's rolls will be paved with people who laid down their life in this life just to do the will of God. Oh, but their reward in heaven is rich.

Guest (Male): Don't go away. The rest of today's Destined for Victory message featuring Pastor Paul Sheppard is coming right up. In John 14:6, Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." And that's our mission here at Destined for Victory, to share that timeless truth, Jesus himself, so that as many people as possible can be saved.

You can help us do this by sending a generous gift today. Visit our website, pastorpaul.net, to make a safe and secure donation online. That's pastorpaul.net. Or call 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-5500. Now, for more on the life of Esther, let's get you back to the rest of today's Destined for Victory message, "God Will Fix It for You."

Paul Sheppard: And I want to tell you something, even if you have to be persecuted for your faith, the present trials you're going through, Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4, they're not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to come. And so you have to be kingdom first in this life. Do the will of God and—but here's my point: if you are kingdom first, if you are fully surrendered to the will of God, if you get your life lined up with the will of God, there is no good thing that he will withhold from you. No good thing!

Don't have a welfare mentality. Don't think, "Oh, this is just enough. I'm glad I got a little plate, I got a little beans on it." God wants to spread a banquet. He has prepared a banquet for you in the presence of your enemies! Don't you sit down talking about, "I sure wish I had three more greens on—" Ask for what you wish! And it shall be done. Why? Because you're abiding in him and his word is abiding in you.

He gave her a second dose of unusual favor. You thought it enough to be the queen, but that was just the setup. Now look at what's happening. She goes before him. Remember in the last message, we saw that when we left off in the last message, she said, "All right, I'm going to fast three days. My maid is going to fast, and I want you to tell all Mordecai and all the Jews fast for 72 hours, and I'm going before the king."

And now God's going to give her a second dose of unusual favor. How does that pan out? In chapter 5—we didn't read it in the interest of time—but in chapter 5, she is going. They're fasting, but what I want you to realize is that in chapter 5, during the fast, she's preparing a banquet. You know that because of verse 5 of chapter 5. Later on, when she invites the king to this banquet, it says, "the banquet I had prepared."

She's not saying, "I'm going to—if you agree to this, we're going to start cooking." No, she had prepared. During the fast, she was acting like God was going to bless her with the favor of the king. So she said, "Since I'm going to be blessed with his favor, and since the first thing I want to do is feed him, we better start cooking."

During the fast, she's not eating, but she is having her attendants prepare a meal. The cooks—I mean the royal chefs—these folk are back there working, and she says she wants this and she wants that, and they are preparing a banquet in anticipation. If you believe it, act like you believe it. Don't say you believe it and then all of your actions are tentative and, "I'm not sure what's going to happen, I don't know."

Because remember, this is all or nothing. She said, "He's either going to eat this food or I'm going to be dead. If I die, if I lay down my life trying to preserve my people, that's an honorable way to die." She said, "But if the Lord grants us this favor, I better have something for this man to eat."

So she's cooking. She has the people—she's not doing the cooking, you know when you're the queen you don't have to cook. You just call down and tell them what to have ready and when. Oh, wouldn't that be the life? She's having it prepared. So what happens? She goes in. We're paraphrasing chapter 5. She's had the food prepared. Now at the end of the 72 hours, she enters in into the presence of the king.

He looks up, sees her. This is that defining moment we talked about. Because at that moment, tradition in that kingdom said when he looks up and sees somebody he didn't invite, unless he extends to them the gold scepter, they die. Defining moment. She's standing there, has put on her royal robes, the Bible says, stands there looking great.

He looks up, sees that beautiful young woman that he married and made his queen, and he grabbed that—he couldn't grab that scepter quick enough. My man looked at her and said, "What you talking about? I didn't even ask her in here, she just coming on in anyway!" He held that thing up. She came to him. She touched it as was their tradition.

Now they can have an actual audience. Now that that's over, it's as though she were invited in. And he says—let me bring it on up to 21st century—"Baby! I'm glad to see you. What you want? What you need me to do for you? What you need? All you got to do is tell me, it's done." He said, "Even to half of my kingdom."

Brothers, sprung. He is sprung on the favor God put in his heart. This is a God thing. God is setting this up. Sprung as he knows how to be. It's not like she asked for it. You know you're sprung when you offer stuff nobody even asked for. Come on, somebody, you are a mess up! That's like somebody walking up to you saying, "How much money I got? Here, take it!" Didn't even ask for it.

Sprung, but it's God. This whole book is about God working behind the scenes. Up to half my kingdom. She says, "Well, here's what I want you to do. I'd like you to come to a banquet I've prepared for you, and I want you to bring Haman. And the two of you, I just want to feed you, take care of you." King said, "Go get Haman! We getting ready to eat."

Unusual, second dose of unusual favor. And chapter 5 goes on to tell us as they drank wine, feeling that little buzz, feeling good. Then the king asked her again, said, "All right, now I really appreciate this, sweety, but what's up?" Because he knows something. Something's up here. She's got to want something. I appreciate this, very nice, but what's up?

She said, well, bring it up 21st century, "Well, boo, what I want you to do is let me do this for you one more day." She said, "And then tomorrow I'll tell you what's on my mind. But let me give you a second banquet and bring Haman." And king says, "You got it, your fine self." He's sprung, but it's God. He tells Haman, "Show up tomorrow. We doing this again."

The Bible is right funny. Haman leaves thinking he's the man sure enough. He left the presence of the king, he left that banquet hall feeling on top of the world. But as he left the palace, he had to go past Mordecai, who sits there at the gate. And everybody else at the gate, as soon as they see Haman, they're bowing and scraping and giving honor, and Mordecai just standing there.

The Bible says Haman became furious! But he restrained himself. But he got home and he's so full of rage he's got to exhale. Calls his friends, calls his wife, and does two things: he brags and bellyaches. You know anybody who brags and bellyaches because the whole world revolves around them?

Guest (Male): Time and again in scripture, we see God granting favor to his people: Moses, Abraham, Mordecai, Esther. But none of them earned his favor by their own merit. It was by faith in Jesus Christ. Develop a lifestyle of faith and he will bless your life more than you ever could have imagined.

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Well, I'm sure you have someone in your life—a friend, a co-worker, a family member—and you've just never quite had the right words to say to them about the gospel. If so, you're going to love this month's Destined for Victory resource, "You Are So Loved." This booklet is a short, readable gospel presentation and it doesn't feel like a tract.

It just might open a door you've been praying to have opened for years. That's "You Are So Loved," our thank-you gift today for your generous donation 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.

And you can mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California 94538. God will get rid of the trouble that your haters are trying to bring into your life. Just trust him, just stand true, just be kingdom first. And the word of God tells you that God is going to fix it for you. He's going to turn it around.

That's next on our message "God Will Fix It for You." I'm telling you ahead of time, if you can join us, you'll be glad you did. Until then, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.