Destined for Victory

Paul Sheppard: We have a Bible full of things that we know clearly to be the will of God. But our first instinct, when it challenges some of our comfort zones and some of the things we really want, our personal desires, our first instinct is to try to come up with a plan B.

Guest (Male): If anyone ever needed a plan B, it was him. Hello and thanks for stopping by for today’s Destined for Victory where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Sheppard. Peter had stepped outside his comfort zone before. He had walked on water. He’d identified Jesus as the Messiah, but he was about to face the biggest challenge of his life.

God had a plan for Peter that Peter would never have expected or believed possible. As you follow along today, think about the things God might be asking you to do. We hope you'll stay with us, but if your schedule won't allow it today, remember you can always visit PastorPaul.net where you can listen to any recent message on demand, including this one. That's PastorPaul.net. Now let’s listen closer to Pastor Paul’s Destined for Victory message, When Growth Requires Change.

Paul Sheppard: Growth requires change. I made the point in the early part of the message that some of us have clothes in our wardrobe right now and in our closets that are there not because we can wear them, but we have some articles because we either once wore them or because we bought them hoping that we would be able to wear them. The reality is until something changes, growth requires change of wardrobe. Sometimes you are hoping against hope you can wear something, but right now it simply doesn't fit.

Growth sometimes requires change on our part. As it is in the physical and natural, so it is in the spiritual. In some ways God wants the church to grow, and it calls for us to change. As the church grows numerically, in order for us to remain healthy, we must also grow emotionally and spiritually. In fact, the best way to be part of a healthy spiritual environment is to make sure that you are personally growing in your relationship.

Now, we made a couple of points. First of all, change can be frightening. We looked at Acts chapter 9 and saw that the change God began to orchestrate in the early church was He saved their greatest persecutor. Saul, who was the greatest persecutor of the church, was saved one day on the Damascus road and the church had to change in order to let in a man they were deathly afraid of.

That change was frightening. Sometimes God asks you to begin to change your life to conform to His word and it’s scary to make certain changes. When God asks you to seek first the kingdom of God, that’s a very scary thing for many people. Some of us God will change our value systems. God will change the way we deal with money and the way we spend our time. He’ll change our relationships with people that are toxic relationships. He'll move those people out of your life.

Growth, if you're going to keep growing, is going to require that you change and move with God. The second point we saw is that change can be threatening. It was threatening because the early church not only had to accept their greatest persecutor now as a brother, but later on in Acts chapter 9, we come to see that the apostles had to make room for a new kid in town named Saul.

God’s hand is on him. God’s anointing is on him. Before long, it was clear that God was going to use Saul in a way that He wasn't even using some of the apostles, which is a very threatening prospect if you've been holding a position. In the church we get very territorial. You know how church folk are if you've been around them. Some of y'all got saved straight out of the world. You are so fortunate. You haven't run into a whole lot of church mess. If you went straight from pagan to Christian, man, you are in good shape.

Some of us have been around church folk long enough to see some knockdown, drag-out fights. Nobody can fight like a church heavyweight champion. Some of these people can put you on the canvas. I’m telling you, some of us get territorial. We can get territorial about where we sit in church. Now, come on, let’s be honest. We all tend to like to make our comfort zones. There’s nothing necessarily toxic or wrong about it until your attitude gets wrong.

If you show up a little later than you usually show up and somebody is sitting in what you think is your seat, now we got a problem. I've seen folk tell somebody to move in church. "That is my seat." I’ve seen them tell somebody to move. What do you mean it’s your seat? We get territorial. You can get that way about where you sit or where you serve. I’ve been holding this position for the longest. Do you know how long? When you were still in your sins, I was right here.

Church folk can go there on you. I’m telling you now. They can go there on you. "You were a heathen when I was right here in church." Yeah, that might be true, but God is making a change now. God brought Saul in and the apostles could have become territorial and said, "He’s a Johnny-come-lately come in here thinking he’s going to preach. He didn't even see Jesus. We walked with Jesus." They could have taken that attitude, but they’d have missed a move of God.

They had to learn to find out what God’s doing and get in the flow of what He’s doing. What it called them to do is to realize that change can be threatening and they had to make a deliberate decision that they would open their hearts to this young man and let him begin to exercise the calling God had placed on him. Change can be frightening and change can be threatening, but we've got to learn to go with God.

I want to pick it up and look at a third point which is that change can be challenging. When you move out of Acts 9 into Acts 10, you begin to see God moving in a very unique way. In Acts chapter 10, we're going to discover that God has an MO. God has a method of operation. You see it consistently throughout the scriptures. God does what He wants to do first and then He tells us what He did.

There’s something I’ve learned about God. God doesn't stop by your house to say, "Now I’m thinking about doing this. What do you think?" He knows better than to check with us with all of our mess, with all of our feeling threatened and feeling frightened. He knows not to do that. What God does is He moves first. He shows us His will by what He does and then He deals with us after the fact.

Look at how it plays out in Acts chapter 10. God went to a Gentile's house, a man named Cornelius. This man lived in Caesarea about 50 miles away from what God was doing in Jerusalem, far removed from what was happening in Jerusalem. Here is a Gentile. Notice the opening verses of Acts 10. Here’s a Gentile, a man of the Italian Regiment who is not a Jew and has not been preached to, but according to his understanding of who God is, he is serving God.

He is giving. He is praying. Watch this. When the angel speaks to him, the angel says, "I want to tell you, before I give you an assignment, let me pay you a compliment. Your prayers and your gifts to the poor have come up before God as a memorial offering." In other words, God was accepting the sacrifice of a Gentile when if you had asked Peter or John or any of the guys in Jerusalem, "Could God accept a Gentile?" their answer would have been an emphatic no.

The reality is God accepted him. He said, "You’ve been accepted of the Lord. Now I’ve got a blessing for you. I need you to send for a man named Simon Peter and he’s going to usher in the blessing I have for you and your household." Cornelius, this Gentile, armed now with these instructions from this angel, sends men to Joppa looking for Simon Peter. Simon Peter is an apostle in Jerusalem. He’s been preaching and leading the Jewish people who have received Jesus Christ.

He is a man who has experienced God’s grace in his own life and he wants to be pleasing to God. At this point in his life, he assumes that to be pleasing to God I must remain orthodox in my Judaism except where it contradicts the teachings of Jesus Christ. He is proudly orthodox. The Bible shows us here how God introduces change in his life. He’s on the rooftop one day. He is hungry. He asked his host to get him something to eat and while the meal is being prepared, he falls into a trance.

He sees while in this vision the heavens open and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contains all kinds of four-footed animals as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. Then God begins to work on him. He says, "Rise, Peter. Get up and kill and eat one of these animals." God’s taking advantage of the fact that he’s hungry. He’s waiting on a meal that’s being prepared.

In the vision, he sees all of these animals come down on a sheet and he hears a voice which he knows is from heaven. We know that by his response. The voice says, "Rise, Peter. Kill and eat." Peter thinks, "Oh, no, no, no. I’ve never eaten anything impure or unclean and I’m not about to start now." So he says, "Surely not, Lord." Look at who he’s saying no to.

Guest (Male): Still ahead the rest of today’s Destined for Victory message with Pastor Paul Sheppard. Our mission here at Destined for Victory is to serve you and all of our listeners by sharing timeless truth for a victorious life. One of the reasons we're able to do it is because of your prayers and financial support.

You're invited to prayerfully consider making a generous gift to Destined for Victory today. Call 855-339-5500 to make your gift over the phone or give safely and securely at PastorPaul.net. There are certain people we don't say no to. Our mothers or fathers, maybe our bosses. But there is a time when Peter actually said no to God. The rest of the story comes your way next in the second half of today's Destined for Victory message, When Growth Requires Change.

Paul Sheppard: You remember when we were growing up, there were people you didn't say no to. I’m talking about the old-fashioned upbringing. There were people you didn't say no to. You had to figure out something else to say because some of those old folk just took it like downright disrespect. You had to watch what you said and watch how you said it. Here’s Peter talking to God, saying, "Lord, I cannot do. I will not do what You just told me to do."

We have a Bible full of things that we know clearly to be the will of God. But our first instinct, when it challenges some of our comfort zones and some of the things we really want, our personal desires, our first instinct is to try to come up with a plan B and say, "Well, God, I know the Bible says that, but. I know the Bible tells me that I ought to attend church regularly, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, but I have a lot of things I need to do. It seems to me I can't be sitting up in church every Sunday. Back when that was written, people didn't have as much to do as we have to do now."

Don't you see how you're saying, "Surely not, Lord. Surely not every week, Lord." When the Bible says be generous in your giving, supporting the kingdom of God, it’s the most important work on the earth. It’s changing lives for time and for eternity. You say, "Yeah, but Lord, look at my mortgage or my rent. Then my car note. Then look at how I have to do this and do that and do the other. When I get through with all of that, I don't have a tithe to give You, Lord. I don't have a generous offering to give You, Lord. You’ve got to understand my budget."

This is the first thing out of his mouth. "Surely not, Lord." Our first instinct is to stick with what we're doing and justify it. "I've never eaten anything impure or unclean and I don't want to start now. Surely not." Watch God’s response because it’s the same thing He’s saying to us. He said, "If I tell you to do it, if I call it clean, you're contradicting Me when you call it unclean." God is saying, "Peter, I’m the one who told you to eat. This isn't like you're talking to one of your buddies and your buddy says, 'Hey, why don't you try that? Why don't you eat a little piece of pork?' And you say, 'Surely not, I’ve never eaten pork.' That’s all right if you're talking to him."

The One you serve, the One who died for your sins, the One who paid the price for your salvation says to you, "Kill and eat something on this blanket," He’s trying to teach you that you are to say, "Well, Lord, I’ve never done that before, but if it’s Your will, I’ll let You take me where I’ve never been before." What you and I have to understand is that if you want to see God do in your life what He’s never done before, you have to be willing to let Him take you where you’ve never gone before.

You have to be willing to move out of your comfort zone into His will because His will is not static, it’s dynamic. The will of God doesn't keep you in your comfort zone. The will of God will move you. The will of God will cause you to go to deeper depths and higher heights. God will ask you to do things He’s never asked you to do before. You have to be flexible enough and fluid enough to move with God. Peter says no, I’ve never done that, and God corrects him by saying, "If I call it pure, don't you call it impure."

He did this three times. Three times before Peter really came to understand God is serious about this. Peter doesn't understand the application yet, but God did it until Peter got at least the concept, the theory, that God’s word sometimes will take us to places that make us very uncomfortable. God’s been doing that down through the centuries. God introduced this concept to me when He sent me to California and the vision He gave me in the years I was in Philadelphia.

I had a growing vision of the pastorate that He would send me into. I didn't know where it would be, what city, or what state. I just knew one day God was going to have me pastor a church and I could tell you a number of things about it. I knew that it was going to grow eventually to be a very large church. I knew that it was going to launch a radio ministry. I knew all kinds of things that I could tell you and did tell my friends back in the '80s.

What I didn't know is what the church would look like. God didn't tell me, I guess because it was none of my business. It’s His church. But I brought to the Bay Area my prejudices and presuppositions and I assumed that it would be an all-black church. I loved non-black people but I wasn't used to dealing with many of them. I grew up in Philadelphia. The big cities on the East Coast tend to be very segregated. In the Midwest as well, it's very segregated and you deal with your own people for the most part.

There were parts of Philadelphia we only drove through. If you drove through too slow, folk would look at you. You could tell the look on their face meant, "And what are you doing here? Don't think about getting out of that car." I brought all that understanding and while I loved people, when it came to being a pastor, I assumed I would pastor all black people. In fact, I assumed that only all black people would submit to the leadership of a black man because that’s all I’d ever seen.

I brought all that understanding and while I loved people, when it came to being a pastor, I assumed I would pastor all black people. In fact, I assumed that only all black people would submit to the leadership of a black man because that’s all I’d ever seen. Black folk pastor black folk. White folk pastor white folk. Hispanic folk pastor Hispanic folk. We get in trouble when we think God’s view of the world is ours. It’s what I expected. I came, began to minister and church grew very slowly in those early years.

I often say people stayed away in droves. I said, "Lord, where are these people? You gave me a vision in my Philadelphia years. I saw a church that eventually grew very large. I assumed that as soon as I got here, I moved 3,000 miles. Bring the people." Y'all stayed away. I said, "Lord, You bring me all the way out here and I’m ministering to the twos and fews." Little handful of folk sitting out there. We worshipped in a theater that sat about 300 people and when we first got to the theater there were about 50 of us.

We crammed together in the middle section. When I saw them crammed together, I said, "No, spread out a little bit. Let’s make it look like somebody’s in here." I’d be discouraged before I ever took my text. I’d look out and say, "My God, look at this." But I was just believing God and saying, "Lord, where are the people?" They weren't coming and they were just trickling in. Every now and then, I’d have an anniversary and they’d celebrate we went from 34 to 50 and they were happy and I was depressed. I said, "Where are the people? I saw thousands in the vision."

Guest (Male): Thanks so much for being here with us for today's Destined for Victory message, When Growth Requires Change. At Destined for Victory, we've always believed in the power of partnership. It's a core value put in place years ago by Pastor Paul Sheppard. I once spoke with him about not only the power of partnership, but about the benefits of partnership. So before we leave you today, I wanted to share that brief conversation with you.

Paul Sheppard: I think that we do need to underscore that it is a win-win situation when a person is not only a faithful prayer warrior to undergird us with prayer, but when they are faithful in supporting our ministry financially. There is a real benefit to them because Jesus said in Matthew 6, "Don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth corrupts and things get eroded." He says, you need to store up treasures in heaven.

If people say, "Well, how in the world do you do that while you're still living on earth?" the answer is you support things that make a difference not only for time but for eternity. Ministries like ours are making that kind of difference. So you get to directly benefit as a supporter because Jesus is saying in essence, you share in the victory, you share in the fruitfulness of the ministries you support. I know that to be true.

God has blessed me over the years because of faithful listeners who stand with us every month. I can count on the fact that part of what they do is they sow into this ministry so that we can continue to preach timeless truths in a timely way that’s making a difference for people both in this life and preparing them for the life to come. There is no Pastor Paul or any of the other ministers that God is using without those who faithfully support them. To you, I say thank you so much. To others, I’m saying please prayerfully consider becoming part of that support team.

Guest (Male): We say it all the time at Destined for Victory, without you, there would be no us. When you decide to partner with us for as little as $20 a month, you'll receive a few thank-you gifts including one of our most popular resources, Pastor Paul's CD, "The Best of Let My People Smile". It's a compilation of some of his best and funniest moments. Something the entire family can enjoy.

Call 855-339-5500 or mail your gift. When you do, please let us know you'd like to become our partner. The address: Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California 94538. You can also sign up by selecting "Become a Partner" at the top of the PastorPaul.net homepage. That's PastorPaul.net. 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, "Clothed in Love: Seven Gifts for the Ones Who Matter Most". For more information on this outstanding resource, please stop by PastorPaul.net.

Paul Sheppard: Some of us are guilty of treating strangers much better than we treat our moms, our dads, our siblings, our sons, our daughters, those we walk with on a close basis. I want to suggest to you that if you treat others better than you treat your family, God says He wants that turned around. If we're getting along as we ought to, we ought to understand the value of the people closest to us.

Guest (Male): That's tomorrow in our message, Great Gifts to Give Your Mom. Until then, remember He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.