Destined for Victory

Guest (Male): Hello and welcome to another great day here at Destined for Victory where we feature the teaching ministry of Pastor Paul Sheppard. Before we get started with today's message, I want to share a conversation I once had with Pastor Paul about the power of partnership. I asked him what he would say to you our listening friends and partners if he could with you in person. Here's what he had to say.

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. 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 partnership? He took Peter, James, and John farther into the Garden of Gethsemane and he said, "Just stay here and watch with me." 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. And it goes on and on. 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 after his preaching days were over. And today your partnership with us is more important than it's ever been. When you partner with us for as little as $20 a month, we'll send you a few thank you gifts including one of our most popular CDs, *The Best of Let My People Smile*. This is Pastor Paul at his absolute best. Two things we know for sure: you will learn and you will laugh. We're not sure which one you do more of.

So call 855-339-5500 and find out more about how to become a Destined for Victory partner. 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 our partner from our website, pastorpaul.net. Now if you can't become a partner but would like to send a generous gift to the ministry today, we'd love to send you our latest booklet, *Truth, Temper and Treasure*. For more information on this great new resource, please stop by pastorpaul.net.

Paul Sheppard: We, people of God, need to aim for not a million followers. 999,000 of them might be fake. We need to aim for one like and that comes from on high. That's what we need. I need him to like me. I need him to be pleased with me.

Guest (Male): I know it feels good to have a few likes on social media, but there's one like that matters most. On today's Destined for Victory, Pastor Paul moves ahead in his teaching series, "Embracing Newness." Along the way, we'll learn how to set aside some of the unhealthy habits we once had, habits like seeking approval or popularity from our peers. The message is called "Junk Removal for the Soul" and it starts right now.

Paul Sheppard: So far we've looked at four of the seven practical ways that the Apostle Paul tells us we should put on the new self in the latter verses of Ephesians 4. He has shared with us in recent messages, I've made the point that when you speak, tell the truth. We have talked about that. I know the small groups, the life groups have interacted about that. We need to be truth-telling people and when you don't want to tell folks all the truth, then don't tell them a partial lie. Just don't speak the things that are not true.

When you speak tell the truth. The second point we made was manage anger appropriately. The third point is earn your living honorably and do good for others. And then in the last message we gave you this point: say the right thing. Decades ago Spike Lee said "do the right thing" in a movie and I told you in the last message, "say the right thing" because that's what the Apostle Paul encouraged us to do.

Now I want to give you the last three of the seven points that I have taken out of Paul's words in the latter verses of Ephesians 4. Here's how I've worded point number five: Always aim for the only like that truly matters. I'm old school but I'm learning that in today's world, if I'm going to present relevant truth to people, I have got to update my thinking. And so I have learned how important likes are in today's world.

And I want to let you know there is one like that is truly important. It truly matters. That's the one you need to aim for. Where'd you get that, Pastor? Verse 30 of Ephesians 4. Here's what Paul said: "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Do not grieve God.

And so rather than make that point in a negative way, I simply spin it around and I'm going to make the exact same point in a positive way. So you could replace "do not grieve" for "make sure you make happy the Holy Spirit of God." Make sure you please the Holy Spirit of God. Make sure he is happy with what you do.

And that is the point we need to drive home in our hearts that there is one like. We live in a world of social media. Do you know as I was preparing this message, I saw a documentary on TV and it opened up by saying a common question children have been asked over the decades is "what do you want to be when you grow up?"

Now in the 60s when I was a kid, I was born in '57, so in the 60s when I'm a kid in elementary school, that was a common question even back in those days. What do you want to be when you grow up? And the documentary said back in my day, the answers were typically "I want to be a doctor," "I want to be a pro athlete," "I want to be an astronaut," different things like that children would say back in my day.

They said today when current researchers ask that question of tweens and teens—what's a tween? That's a child between nine and 12 years old. And the teens of course you know. They said when today's children, both tweens and teens, have been asked that question, research shows that the number one answer is "I want to be an influencer." I want to be an influencer.

Now all y'all old school like me, y'all probably don't even know what that means because I didn't know till not long ago, but I had to learn because how are you going to preach relevant truth if you don't know relevant terms? Influencer is actually an aspiration today that will keep people from saying, "Oh I want to be a doctor, I don't need to do that. I just need to be an influencer."

There are influencers making doctors' money and more. You say, "Well what's an influencer?" I don't have a lot of time to get you into that but let me just give you the highlights. These are people who for whom their social media appearances especially on platforms like Instagram—I'm sure there are other ones but Instagram is certainly one of the hot ones, Snapchat, some other stuff that's out there. I don't have any of it, but I know about it or heard about it. And I do have an Instagram but I don't even post to it. Some other folk post to it.

I'm going to get somebody to really make mine a real thing because right now I'm sure it just has little comments here and there so we got to build that up. But in any event, I have found out that these children specialize in their Instagram and Snapchat and other appearances. What's that new one that comes from Asia was the company? TikTok. There it is, they're helping me. TikTok.

I've never seen a TikTok in my life, but I hear people talking about them and I've seen videos when they say this came from TikTok. I'm like okay, I take your word for it, I don't know nothing about it. In any event, they're influencers, they are making major money because the more likes they get, the more attention they get on social media, then sponsors see the numbers they get and will actually pay them to promote products and services.

It is incredible. And so children today by and large, there are some who still want to do stuff like STEM and I want us to encourage our kids to be STEM if you can: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Don't do the "I" influencer until you do science, technology—all right I'm meddling, I'm supposed to be preaching.

Let me go back to this. Kids want to be influencers because they can make major money. But here's the point. This documentary I saw as I was prepping this last message in the series, the documentary is entitled *Fake Famous*. Fake famous. People who appear to be famous but not really.

And here's why the documentary said that. More than 100 million people on planet Earth today—watch this folk, it will blow your mind—more than 100 million people who have more than 100,000 followers on Instagram. Let that sink in. 100 million people on the planet. I mean how many folk are on the planet? I don't know what the percentage is, it's only like what seven billion, seven something billion on the planet. 100 million of them have at least 100,000 followers on Instagram.

Watch this next stat. 40 million people have at least a million followers on Instagram. Do you believe that? They do. Now watch this. I got this off the documentary, don't be mad at me. Check out *Fake Famous*, you'll see. Here's the truth that was revealed. The vast majority of these people are fake famous because the overwhelming majority of their followers are not people but bots.

So you can have 90% of this huge following and they have profiles and they make comments, but they're not people. They're bots. They're algorithms that have been created. They pick people's pictures, they create names. It looks like a person on the screen. It's not a person, it's a bot. There are bot farms, bot factories. That's what they do: create fakeness. Why? Because if people think you have all those followers, sponsors think you have all those followers, they will get you to promote their stuff because some of your followers are real people and they're hoping to get the real people to buy their products or take advantage of their service.

That's the world we live in. So you can be famous and not really. You appear to be famous, you appear to have a whole lot of folk who know you, but they don't. Isn't that something? This is some world we living in, folks. Here's the point. It doesn't matter to these folk that they have fake followers if sponsors will give them real money. And the sponsors know that some folk are really following you although a lot of others are bots. So they're going after the some people that are really following you and a lot of us are gullible.

And so on this documentary they showed a couple of random people who had few hundred followers and did a social experiment with them. One of them to this day is making good money because they created her when she's not famous for doing anything. It is absolutely amazing.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard. Stay with us. The second half of today's message is coming right up. One of the things we love to do for friends and listeners like you is to pray for you when you're in need. So if you have a prayer request, please visit pastorpaul.net and use the contact feature to share it with us. Our ministry team is always happy to lift you up in prayer. God doesn't have a social media account, but he is looking for a few followers. So let's get you back to the rest of today's Destined for Victory message, "Junk Removal for the Soul."

Paul Sheppard: Here's my point. We, people of God, need to aim for not a million followers. 999,000 of them might be fake. We need to aim for one like and that comes from on high. That's what we need. I need him to like me. I need him to be pleased with me. If y'all like me, cool. If you don't, oh well. I'm going to try live my life in such a way that you like some of what I do and some of what I represent. I'm going to try hard to do that. But I'm not going to live my life trying to impress people.

Have you ever spent a lot of time trying to impress a group of people? Do you know what an exercise in futility that is? Because as sure as you impress a group of them, you're going to make another group mad. These folk love you, these folk rolling their eyes all up in the back of their head. So you got to decide there is one like I need. He's not going to be a follower because God doesn't follow us, so that's why I'm saying like. He not following any of us. He calls us to follow him.

But I need him to like my life. That's what Paul is saying, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. You make other folk mad all day long, do not grieve God. He said because he's the one who has sealed you for the day of redemption. What that means is your salvation is a done deal because of the Holy Spirit's work in your life who came into your heart crying Abba Father.

He's the one according to the Scriptures that established a real relationship between you and the Father. That's the Holy Spirit's work. He is the one who comes in and makes us what God has destined us to be. When we were kids and we were taught to ask Jesus into our heart. Well let's be technical for a moment. Jesus is at the right hand of the Father. He doesn't come into our heart as the person he was on Earth. He comes into our heart by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the one who dwells in us and he's dwelling in you and you want him to be happy. You want the Holy Spirit to be pleased. That is the one like. So always aim for the one like that truly matters.

Point number six: Let go of negative attitudes and treat people with kindness. How does Paul make that point? It's in verse 31 and the first part of verse 32 here in Ephesians 4. He says, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and slander be put away from you along with all malice. Then he says, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted."

Pause right there. Those words make this sixth point which is let go of negative attitudes and treat people with kindness. How am I going to be a person who walks in the newness that God has ordained for my life? All of these points I'm making express that newness. And this one is extremely important. If I'm going to walk in the newness that the Lord has destined for me to walk in, I've got to let go, put away all my negative stuff.

We live in a world where one of the commercials I see a lot on television is from a company called 1-800-GOT-JUNK. And they simply are a junk removal company. You book them apparently and they will have a truck come to your house and one of their slogans they say all you got to do is point. And they have folk they take you to a little pile of junk or whatever and the driver, the staff that come with the truck, they say just point to what you want us to remove and the person points and the people are all giddy just pointing and they come get and take stuff away.

Listen, that company has a spiritual point. The Holy Spirit is saying if you're going to walk in newness, you got some junk that got to go. I know you look saved, you look holy, everybody in your life is impressed with you on the outside, but God says there's some stuff on the inside that has to go. Not everybody that looks great, not everybody who appears to be an influencer is really a person of value.

The way you become a person of value is you let the Holy Spirit pull up in his truck and help you remove the junk. Now you got to identify what's got to go. He's just in our lives to be a helper the Bible says but he's not going to go in your house. Do you know the Holy Spirit does not barge into your life and start grabbing stuff and yank it out? God won't take these raggedy people you holding on to. No, she got to go. No, he's done. Now this. God won't do that.

God will convict you. The Holy Spirit will bring you under conviction and you know this is not pleasing to God. You won't get a like from heaven if this stays, whether it's a person, whether it's an attitude, whatever it is. Look at this stuff. These are all people interactions if you notice here in verse 31: "let all bitterness." Bitterness has to do—sometimes circumstantial, but almost always bitterness has to do with people interactions.

You become bitter because of your people interactions. The Greek word translated bitter here means sharp, pointed, pungent, and it implies interactions with people. Sharp, pointed. When you're bitter you don't have smoothness, you don't have it is sharp. Your bitterness, your anger is sharp and he says that has got to go. Your spiritual 1-800-junk got to go. Bitterness must depart from your life. You got a point and say "bitterness you got to get out of here. I've been bitter too long. It's not helping me, it's not serving me well. You got to go."

What else is in the list? Paul said wrath and anger. Wrath and anger here, especially when the words are used in the Greek here in a combined way, it denotes violence or explosiveness. The Greek scholars I was reading behind said think of a violent storm, not just a storm but one of violence. If you've ever been in a place where there was a violent thunderstorm or a violent hurricane or something like that, that's what this is.

Get rid of not only bitterness but wrath combined with anger. When you're so mad, when you're so angry, you're full of wrath. He said it is the personal equivalent of a violent thunderstorm or a violent hurricane. You got to get rid of it. One scholar said think of it as the way an earthquake, a major earthquake interrupts and shakes everything. That can go on in your life Paul is saying.

Some of us got earthquake stuff in us, violent storm stuff in us as we deal with some people, maybe who have made you mad for a long time and you haven't properly dealt with the stuff and it's built up in you and now you got a full-blown explosion going on in your heart. You might not have let it out yet, but the pressure is there. The pressure is there.

Clamor is in this passage. Paul said get rid of clamor. What does that speak of? In the Greek word translated clamor here means screaming, demanding, insistent crying out. That's the clamor. He said some of you have some screams inside of you. You got some yelling at people inside of you. You got some insistent crying out. You got some demanding things. You might not have made the demand out loud yet, but just like I spoke about the anger and the wrath, you got that going on in your heart and you are ready to explode with words, with screams, with yells.

And he says you've got to deal with all the disruptive stuff that's going on on the inside of you. You are called to walk in newness so you can't take that junk into your newness, into your new season, into your destiny. God can't use people who have violence going on on the inside that is not dealt with properly. So you got to deal with how mad you are. See you got to understand anger is often hurt demanding justice. And when you are hurt and you're demanding justice on the inside and you don't deal with it right, it builds up.

I know this feels more like a therapy session, but pastor's got a word for you and you need to hear it. Let the Lord take you to the yard of your life and say this clamor, this bitterness, this wrath has got to go.

Guest (Male): Let this truth sink deep in your spirit today. God is not trying to change you from the person you were to the person you can be. He's trying to mature you into the person you already are. To find out more about Destined for Victory's mission and purpose or about the special gift reserved for you when you give generously today, please come see us at pastorpaul.net. Once again, pastorpaul.net.

Paul Sheppard: God is really interested in making sure that we are prepared to move into the new season, the new things he's introducing into our lives. The only way we'll get there is we got to get rid of some junk. And so I want you to notice very clearly these kinds of things where it pertains to your life. How bitter are you is a question you need to answer. And what are you bitter about?

Guest (Male): And that's next time in our message "Junk Removal for the Soul." I hope you'll join us. Until then remember: He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.