Destined for Victory

Paul Sheppard: I'm finding more and more believers who are holding on to things that God says, "Would you please give that to me? Would you please give those folk to me? Would you please give that job situation to me and cast it on me because I care for you?"

Guest (Male): The Christian life is not a do-it-yourself project, and sometimes it's a don't-do-anything-at-all project. Hello and welcome to another great day here on Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard. We all have things that weigh us down, burdens we're called to bear in this world. But sometimes we take on tasks we have no business taking on when what we ought to be doing is letting go and letting God.

Today you'll discover how to lay down some of the burdens God never meant for you to carry in the first place. Remember, you can always visit our website, PastorPaul.net to listen to any recent message on demand, including today's. That's PastorPaul.net or subscribe to the podcast at Spotify or wherever you enjoy your podcasts. Now, let's listen to our Destined for Victory message, Neglected Areas of Discipleship.

Paul Sheppard: I want to wrap up our focus over the past few messages on neglected areas of discipleship. The premise has been that when we talk about being disciples of Christ, we need to understand that we're really talking about being followers of Jesus. His original disciples in the first century literally had the opportunity to follow him. When he said to them, "Follow me," that's what he meant literally and they walked where he walked and went where he went, experienced all that he experienced.

You and I don't have the opportunity to walk with him in the physical sense. But in a very real sense, we've been saying it's important if we're going to be true disciples of Jesus that we will follow not only his teachings, but we will follow his lifestyle and we will observe in the pages of the Scripture how Jesus lived his life. There are some areas that I call neglected areas of discipleship because they are things that we don't often associate with the life of Jesus.

We've covered a number of them in the past few messages and I want to wrap it up now. We talked about the importance of building an authentic prayer life. Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed, we were told. If Jesus needed to pray, surely you and I need to pray. Then we talked about cultivating a personal support system. Jesus made sure that he had some people in his life who supported him, who strengthened him, who encouraged him, who took care of him emotionally, physically, and otherwise.

You and I need the same thing in our lives. There are some people who do all the giving but they don't look to God to bring into their lives folk who will give back to them. But you cannot continue to give and give and give without also having someone who speaks into your life in positive ways. Jesus had that and you and I need it as well.

We talked about the importance of reconciling relationships. Jesus refused to hold even his enemies in unforgiveness. We see him on the cross saying, "Father, forgive them because they don't know what they're doing." We talked about the importance of you and I practicing forgiveness like our Savior. The fact of the matter is all of us are the recipients, because of what Jesus did, of God's unbridled love and forgiveness. He has given in great measure all that we need in the way of mercy and forgiveness, and how dare we withhold forgiveness from others when the Lord has so freely given it to us? So we talked about reconciling relationships.

Then we talked about in the last message, creating appropriate boundaries and having realistic expectations. The idea being that Jesus knew what was going on in his life in terms of the motives of the people around him. He told his disciples, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Beware of the leaven of Herod." In other words, you need to know that when there are people in your life who need to be guarded against, the Bible lets us know that Jesus had an awareness of his enemies and he had an awareness of the role that everyone was to play in his life.

You and I have to do that exact same thing. Some of us live without boundaries. We let everybody take a crack at us and as a result, we're not truly living the way Christ would have us to live. You have to be more discerning, in other words, if you're going to live like Christ. Then we talked in the last message about the importance of resting your body and mind. I want to pick it up there because if you're going to be like Jesus, you got to realize that this earth suit, this body we live in, can only handle so much.

Your mind, your psyche, can only handle so much. Now, I know a lot of you think you are so anointed that you can just go and go and go. You can serve and serve and serve. You can give out constantly and your body and mind will just cooperate. But I'm here to tell you that if your Savior had to rest his body and mind, how much more do you and I have to do the same thing?

So, we looked in Matthew 11 where Jesus said, "Come to me all of you who are weary and heavy laden. I will give you rest." He said, "Take my yoke upon you. Learn from me how to live your life. Learn from me that you can't go and go and go without consequence. Learn from me that there are burdens I have called you to bear, but they are easy to bear. There is a yoke I've placed on you, but because I am in the yoke with you, we can get it done together."

What you can't do is carry the burdens God wants you to carry and then carry a bunch of other folk along too and wonder why your life is breaking down. I'm running into too many Christians who are broken down instead of living the abundant life. It's because you're carrying too much stuff. In the last message I talked extensively about our lives being like a tractor-trailer. God knows a bunch of us have some stuff and people in the trailer who we need to pull over to the side of the road of our lives, open up the back and get all those folk and all that stuff that we're carrying out.

Because if Jesus said, "I'm going to give you a yoke that's easy to bear, a burden that's light to bear," and you are bogged down, that means you're carrying some things he never ordained for your life. You got to have the courage to let them go. You got to have the courage to cast some cares on the Lord. Some of us are living too much with things that God has not called us to carry and you are fretting too much about things that you can't do anything about.

That's the blessing of prayer to be able to give to God things you can't do anything about anyway. See, if you can handle it with Christ in the yoke with you, then he says that's a burden that together we can bear. So there are some decisions we can make and we ought to make those. But there are other things, no matter what you decide, you will never get a breakthrough about some things. The Bible says about those you cast them over on the Lord because he cares for you.

You all have some people you got to cast over on the Lord because he cares for them. You care for them, but you can't help them. God cares for them and he can help them. If they don't want his help, that's not your problem. I'm going to help you if you let me. Some of us have to be willing to release. I'm finding more and more believers who are holding on to things that God says, "Would you please give that to me? Would you please give those folk to me? Would you please give your raggedy relatives to me? Would you please give that job situation to me and cast it on me because I care for you? Then what you can do is bear the burden I've really given you to bear."

So I want to let you know Jesus models for us resting your body and mind. Jesus got rest when it was time to rest. He didn't just let people have access to him 24 hours a day. When he needed a break, he got a break. When he needed to go to a solitary place, I love that he didn't just go somewhere, he went to places where no one would be when he needed to. Why? Because he knew that he's operating in a limited earth body. He was all God, but he was also all man and he operated in a limited body.

His psyche could only handle so much and your mind can only handle so much. So you got to learn to unload more and more and to learn from Christ how to live that life where you are bearing a yoke that is easy, a burden that is light. God will be pleased if we do such things with our lives. You and I are not meant to carry heavy loads and so we have to let the Lord lighten our load. You've got to be proactive in this.

Jesus said in John chapter 14 verse 1, "Let not your heart be troubled." Now, the context is the disciples here, he had been talking to them about the fact that he was going to be crucified and all of that. He was trying to assure them. He introduces in John chapter 14 a series of things that he said to them with the hope of giving them assurance that although I'm going to leave you in a little while, I'm really not going to abandon you because I'm going to come back into your life through the Holy Spirit.

So as he began to introduce that to them, he said, "Let not your heart be troubled." Pause right there. Fact of the matter is some of us are troubled because we're letting it happen. Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled." Do you know you won't be any more troubled than you allow yourself to be? See, some of us choose to fixate and worry and frustrate ourselves about things. Jesus said, "There are some burdens all of us have to bear. There are some challenges, but you have Christ to help you with them. But about all this other stuff that you can't do anything about," he says, "Let not your heart be troubled."

You can let yourself have a nervous breakdown or you can make sure you don't. Jesus says it's up to you. Let me tell you something, how many know with God in your life, saved by grace and all that, you can still go crazy? Oh, I know some crazy saints. If you don't believe me just see me at the service, I'll give you a list. I know some crazy saints. Saved as they know how to be and crazy as they know how to be.

Why? Because in some cases we have not unloaded things when the Bible says God has given you the ability to let some things go, to cast them on the Lord, and you don't have to remain troubled about them. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, he went on to say, believe also in me. Jesus said take me at my word, trust me that what I'm telling you is true. Let not your heart be troubled.

There are some things you don't have to worry about. You can give them over to God. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 6, "What good has worrying ever done you anyway?" When you think about the manifestations of worry, the only thing worry gets you is maybe some physical problems to go along with the problem you're already dealing with. Worry will get you headaches and will get you aches and pains in your body and worry will frustrate your mind. It'll keep you up late at night. It'll have you going through changes. You'll be breaking out and all this stuff. So listen, worry is not a blessing, it's a curse.

So when the Bible says unload worry, it's really doing you a favor. When Jesus says don't worry about anything, he's trying to bless your life. But I don't know if you've met them, there are some people who carry worry like a fond blanket. Have you ever met them? There's some here right now. Not you, but they're like on your row. They carry it like a blanket and wrap themselves—you ever seen anyone wrap themselves in worry? Just wrap themselves.

It feels comfortable to just put themselves in that position where they're just kind of worried. They talk a lot about the things that they worry about. They remind themselves in case they forget what they were worried about. You ever met the type? I promise you, there are people like that. Oh, if you will engage them in a conversation, they'll give you the lowdown on everything in their life that's frustrating, that makes them miserable.

Jesus said there's an alternative: Let not your heart be troubled. Don't let it happen, which means you have response-ability. Response dash ability. There are challenges, but you don't have to fret about them. There are some significant things, but by walking with Christ who is in the yoke with you, you can experience God's blessing and God's favor in that area of your life instead of worry.

You don't have to worry. Now, there are things that we can just do something about. Why worry about something you can do something about? If you have response dash ability to do something about it, then go for it. If you're uncomfortable with the size you are, "Oh, I'm just gaining too much weight and I can't get in my clothes." You have response dash ability.

If you want now, if you don't mind it, if you like the size you're growing into, go ahead. Don't let anybody bother you. Go to whatever size you choose. Help yourself, knock yourself out. Don't let people get on your nerves about it if you're comfortable. Then you go for it. But if you're uncomfortable, if you're like, "I'm tired of going to the closet and I can't wear my own clothes," you get tired of that, the Holy Spirit is a helper. He's right there with you. He's like, "Okay, well what do you want to do? If you want to work out, hey, we can go ahead. I'll be right with you."

If it's bothering you, do something about it because I mean, no, you can't rebuke fat. You can't rebuke it. "In Jesus' name, get out of here." It won't go anywhere like that. You have to decide. If you're tired of being out of breath, "I can hardly keep up with my grandchildren. Oh, they have me huffing and puffing," then go and get yourself some exercise. You have response dash ability.

If your kids aren't living up to your rules and they're old enough to be on their own and you told them the conditions and the terms by which they can live with you, and they want to have their cake and eat it too, live in your house, grown but still do what they act any old kind of way and not cooperate, you have response dash ability. That's your house. The good thing about your kids is unlike evicting somebody like if you have a rental property you're renting to somebody, it's your house, you don't have to give them a certain notice.

I don't have to give you 30 days in my house. I give you like two, three days, whatever it is. Or give you a final warning. Listen, this is my house. You live here on my terms. Don't like that? Lord bless you. You have response dash ability. You have response dash ability. Not making enough money? You have response dash ability. You figure out how it is that I can honorably earn more.

Many of us need to first of all begin by looking at the way we're using the money we already have and pray and give it to God and talk to some godly people and let them help you work it through. There are lots of areas where we have responsibility. So the Bible says where you have that ability, you get proactive. But where you don't, don't let your heart be troubled.

Believe in God. Believe in Christ. Know that he has begun a good work in you and he's going to bring it to completion. Don't let yourself be troubled. Just refuse to have a breakdown. Just refuse to miss out on what God has for you. With that in mind, I want to tell you something else about Jesus that we need to imitate, an area we need to stop neglecting. Jesus lived an intentionally joyful life.

Jesus lived an intentionally joyful life. So if you're going to be a follower of Christ, I want to let you know some of us need to get about the business of experiencing joy. There are too many sad, pitiful, mean, angry, sour Christians in this world. Not you. But Christians I know. Jesus was intentionally joyful.

Listen to what he said in John 15 verse 10. "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love just as I obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love." Verse 11. "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." Jesus said, "I have lived my life with joy. I've obeyed the Father. I've lived with him, walked with him, done what he told me to do and part of that lifestyle has created joy in me." He said, "I've told you this because I am giving you my joy. I'm making my joy available to you that your joy may be complete."

Look at that in contrast to these sour Christians who look like they've been baptized in lemon juice. Jesus said, "I've lived a joy-filled life and I'm telling you to walk in obedience to the Father, do his will, so that my joy will be in you." He said, "And I want your joy to be complete."

Now, here's my question. If Jesus left you joy before he went back to heaven, where's your joy? He left it for you. So where's your joy? He said again in John 16:24, "Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive that your joy will be complete." Jesus is interested in you and I being joyful people. Now, I've told you before joy is even better than happiness. Happiness is great when you can get it. But happiness depends on what happens. That's the only problem with it.

When you get happiness, enjoy it. You know that old song—who was that, Bobby McFerrin or somebody? "Don't Worry, Be Happy." Cool. If you can be happy as a choice, be happy as a choice. But happiness usually hinges on the right things happening. You have money, happy. Relationships going good, happy. Kids behaving, happy. Job secure, happy. You know those kinds of things help promote happiness in many of our lives and happiness is great. When you can get it, go for it.

But how many know circumstances don't always cooperate? So there are times when you look at your money, not happy. Look at your relationships, not happy. Look at the way your kids acting, not happy. Look at your job situation or the people on your job, not happy. That's just the nature of life. Sometimes life circumstantially doesn't cooperate with happiness. So the Bible doesn't promise you happiness. The Bible says Jesus had joy and he said to his disciples, "I'm making my joy available to you."

Guest (Male): Thanks so much for being here with us for today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard's message, Neglected Areas of Discipleship. What does it mean to put off the old self? What should our new life in Christ look like? In our latest booklet, Truth, Temper and Treasure, Pastor Paul Sheppard walks you through three important areas of our life in which God wants to help us grow. You'll be encouraged to tell the truth instead of trying to manage or control it. You'll also discover how to handle anger without letting it fester and how to manage our money God's way.

This is an outstanding resource for new believers but also for those who might need to get back to the fundamentals of the Christian life. That's Truth, Temper and Treasure, a gift we'd love to share with you this month as our thank you for your generous donation to the Destined for Victory media ministry. 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. Well, there's a difference between happiness and joy. You feel the first because of life's goodness. You experience the second in spite of life's badness. Here's Pastor Paul.

Paul Sheppard: You can have joy even when the circumstances aren't making you happy. Because joy is rooted in walking with the Father, doing his will so that even when things aren't cooperating circumstantially, God says, "Don't worry about it. I will give you joy and the joy I'm giving you the world can't even take away from you."

Guest (Male): That's tomorrow in our continuing message, Neglected Areas of Discipleship. I hope you'll join us then. But now remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.