Destined for Victory

Paul Sheppard: You don't get stronger, wiser, better automatically. You don't grow just because you get old. The only thing that happens with time is you get old. It's up to you if you also grow while you're getting older.

In order to grow spiritually, you not only have to put the right things in, you've got to take the wrong things out.

Guest (Male): Hello and thanks for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard. In Ephesians 4:22 and 23, the Apostle Paul tells us to put off the old self, which belongs to your former manner of life, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds. But how do you do that?

Find out next as we kick off Pastor Paul's teaching series, Embracing the New. Be sure to visit our website, pastorpaul.net, when you get a chance. That's where you can listen to any recent message on demand, including today's. Pastorpaul.net. This Destined for Victory message is called Junk Removal for the Soul, and it starts right now.

Paul Sheppard: Being stronger, wiser, better requires that we are intentional about growing in some areas of our lives. You don't get stronger, wiser, better automatically. You don't grow just because you get old. The only thing that happens with time is you get old. It's up to you if you also grow while you're getting older.

And so, fulfilling this theme definitely is going to require that you're intentional about growing in some areas. But here's what I want to say over these next few messages: it also means that new things will be added to your life and your lifestyle. You can't get stronger, wiser, better if you stay only fixated on what you do and what you know now.

You have to add or allow the Holy Spirit to add new things, new elements, new disciplines, new opportunities. Newness is coming into your life if you're going to get stronger, wiser, and better. Now, what I want to do in this opening message of this short series is to let you know that there's a pattern, there's a process to this whole idea of growing and opening up to newness.

Go with me to Ephesians 4. That's where I want to go. Ephesians chapter 4, and I want you to see what I'm talking about when I talk about this pattern, this process. Begin with verse 22. The Apostle Paul says, "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

Now, in this chapter, the Apostle Paul talks about how there are lots of good things. He says in Ephesians 4—if you're a Bible reader, you know that because we read through the New Testament every year, those that follow my plan at Destiny. You know, if you're familiar with Ephesians 4, he covers a lot of key things. He talks about the need to operate in gentleness and to get along better as the family of God, teaches us how to walk in humility and those sorts of things.

He then goes on to talk about the gifts God gives to the body. God has given gifts to every member of the body, but he also gives gifts to the body in the form of what is commonly called the fivefold ministry: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. And he talks about what our job is—those of us who function in those offices. Our job is to help the body of Christ become mature so that they do the work of the ministry.

It's really important. Paul says the ministry isn't done by the fivefold; the ministry of the fivefold is to the church so that the church does the work of the ministry. How are souls to be saved? Not just by coming here and Pastor Paul, but by you being so equipped that where you work, where you live, where you recreate, you are light and salt and you are causing people to come into life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. Preach, Pastor Paul. I'm doing the best I can with a hostile audience looking at me.

All right, but the fact of the matter is, I want you to know God is up to something in your life, and he says in Ephesians 4, you're a major part of it. So when you get to this part of Ephesians 4, it's worth noting. Note what he said, and you're going to see three elements of what I'm calling the pattern or the process of becoming, of embracing newness.

He says you were taught with regard to your former way of life, the way you lived before you got saved. He says now that you're in Christ, you've got to put off the old self. If you have a Bible you write in, underline "put off your old self." That's the first part of the pattern process. Then jump down to verse 23 where he says you've got to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and then he talks about the newness.

So here are the three things. Notice the pattern. Number one: putting off the old self. Secondly: developing a new mind. And third: putting on the new self. That's the pattern of you becoming the person God's going to make stronger, wiser, better. You've got to put off some things, you've got to change your mind, and you've got to put on some new things. You see it right there in the passage.

I didn't make it up; the Apostle Paul gave it to us. There's a pattern, there's a process to you becoming stronger, wiser, better. Some stuff has got to go. I know you think you're wonderful, but some stuff has got to go. Secondly, you've got to develop a new mind. You can't take the old mind into newness because it'll mess up newness.

I'm going to expound this stuff over these messages, but I just need you to grab the process and the pattern right now. Think now about the things in your life you already know. Oh Lord, the Lord going to be coming for this. Yes, he is coming for it. It's got to go. You're saved and all, but I'm glad you didn't have to get straight before you got saved.

See, the Lord saves you first, then he straightens you out as you walk with him. And so you've got some stuff to put off, you've got some mind renewal that has to take place, and then you have some things that you've got to put on. That's where the newness is coming into play. So with that in mind, let me just make three points here in the opening part of this short series.

Point number one: putting off the old always requires intentionality. Putting off the old always requires intentionality. Just keep that on the screen for 10 more seconds if somebody wants to write it down. Putting off the old always requires intentionality. Now, I want you to think about your life. Are there things in your life right now that you already know need to be put off?

Pastor, what are you talking about? Sin? Could be sin, but it doesn't have to be sin. Remember the writer to the Hebrews, he said, "Let us lay aside every," what? "Weight, and the sin that does so easily beset us." It's not always a sin search you've got to go on. Sometimes it is sin. It's something that displeases God, it's something that's against his word in your life, and he's saying yes, put that off.

But not everything that needs to be put off is sin. Sometimes it's just a weight. Sometimes it's just something that's not going to help you get where God is taking you. It's a hindrance. It is something that is not allowing for proper progress in your life. So think now. Are there things you already know, as you sit here and engage with me in this message?

Are there things you can think of right now? You say, "Yeah, yeah, I know the Holy Spirit is coming for that. I've got to deal with that." Whether it's sin or not, I've got to deal with that. And if you are sitting there watching me, or whatever position you're in, and you're with me in this service right now and you're saying, "Pastor, now I'm just being honest, I can't think of anything."

Okay, tell you what you do. Find somebody who loves you and who knows you and say, "I want you to have full permission for the next couple of minutes to tell me what you see as the things in my life, in my words, in my actions, in my motivations, in me—what in me needs to go?" Just ask them and give them permission to tell you the truth.

Because if you aren't aware that there is stuff, that's a problem by itself, by the way. But if you're not aware that there are things that need to be put off, then let somebody who knows you tell you. "Yeah, you know, I love you and all," and then let them tell you the truth. We all need folk in our lives who have permission to tell us the truth.

You'll never get anywhere good if all you do is convince yourself of everything. You need people to help you get where God is taking you. Now, with salvation came the ability to grow. It was built into salvation. Remember something that the Apostle Paul said in the book of Titus when he wrote his letter to Titus?

He said, "The grace of God that appears to all men and brought salvation teaches us to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." Grace doesn't come to just save you; it comes then to help you become the person God wants you to be. We love just saying, "Oh, grace is there when I mess up, it covers me." Yes, thank God it has that covering feature.

But grace does more than cover you; grace also teaches you. Grace is also a tutor. Grace is also an endowment of God's ability for you to become the person you know you need to be, God wants you to be, other people really wish you were. You need to be in a pattern of growth and development, and you need to allow the Lord to introduce newness into your life, newness into your life.

Are you tracking with me so far? I hope you are. That yes, you're saved. Yes, you're going to heaven. That's not an issue. Because of salvation, I'm ready to go when the Lord's ready to get me. That's no longer an issue because of what Jesus did on Calvary. But while I'm here, his call is: let that same grace that saved you also develop you, also teach you how to grow, teach you how to mature.

Teach you how to become what you're not, teach you how to get over some of your hang-ups, teach you how to lay aside sin and weight that easily besets you. And so I need you to understand: putting off the old is going to be part of all of our lives. There isn't a single Christian I'm talking to, and there's not a preacher that's talking to you now who can say, "I have no stuff to be put off."

None of us. Everybody needs to not only grow and develop in some ways that are already in our lives; all of us need to be open to newness that God will introduce. Some new disciplines, some new habits, some new patterns of thinking. Some new stuff is to come into your life. God loves you like you are, but he loves you too much to leave you like you are.

I know that hurt. I know that hurt, but you're going to be all right. He loves you just like you are, but he said, "I'm not trying to keep you the same way." That's why, folks, following Jesus is not a religion. The world puts it in a category of religions, calls it Christianity. But really, Jesus could care less about religion.

He didn't come to establish a religion; he came to establish a relationship that would be life-changing for all of us. So if life change isn't happening, if all you're doing is singing and shouting and listening to messages and reading the Bible and getting ready to go to heaven, you're missing the point. He wants the body of Christ here on Earth to be dynamic, to be growing, developing, changing, becoming better.

If we're not becoming better, more dynamic people who have a more positive impact in today's world, we're missing the whole point. That's why I'm so concerned about what I'm seeing in American Christianity right now. There's this big focus on culture and on what they're doing wrong. Listen, Jesus didn't come to curse people for what they're doing wrong.

Jesus came to establish a real dynamic relationship so that they would have incentive and have life change going on from the inside so they would become all that he's destined them to be. I agree with the end game: we want to see people living right. Get it. I'm there. But you don't clean fish you haven't caught.

And the establishment of the evangelical church today is busy trying to clean up a world they haven't even won. Oh, I just made a bunch of people mad. But oh well. Fact of the matter is, we have to put some stuff off so that we can become the people he's destined us to be. We've got junk. We've got stuff.

Have you ever had—okay, you haven't personally—have you ever seen somebody who has a room full of junk? Just a lot of stuff. And have you ever seen somebody straighten up the stuff, the junk? Have you ever seen—you haven't done it, I didn't say you did it, stop looking at me in that tone of voice—have you ever said, "You know what? Let me just straighten up the junk in this room."

And so you took the junk and you put it in nice neat piles. "Here's a nice pile of junk. Here's another nice pile of junk. It's organized junk. All right, so now I know where all the junk is." Do you see how ill-advised that is? The bigger question is: why is there junk? How come junk hasn't gone to where junk is supposed to go?

That's because until you decide to get rid of the junk—sin and weights and junk in your life, stuff, attitudes, dispositions, wrong habits—there's all manner of junk. And this first point is: putting off the old always requires intentionality. You don't get better by accident. No one I've ever met has said, "I couldn't believe it. I looked up and my life was in such great shape."

It doesn't happen by accident. It happens by intentionality, by looking at the stuff that's got to change, looking at the stuff where some things have to go out, some things have to be shut down in your life. Whatever the issues are in your individual experience, you need to be aware of the fact that God wants to introduce growth and development in some areas that are already there so that you mature in some areas that are already there.

Those areas are fine, they don't need throwing out; they just need maturity. But there are other areas you've got to do some throwing out. Why? Because God wants to bring newness. And I found out something about the Lord: he doesn't bring newness when you haven't gotten rid of some oldness. He's not going to let you pile new on old junk.

God is not Amazon on high, just going to send you stuff and it comes to your house in the box with the little smiley face on it. He's not going to send you a bunch of stuff from heaven and all the old junk is still there. God says this stuff has got to go. Paul just said it. I'm not making it up. Pastor, where'd you get that?

Right here from the Apostle Paul: "You were taught with regard to your former way of life to," what? "Put off your old self." He didn't say you weren't saved; he said you are saved, but because you are saved, that stuff is supposed to be former way of life. And some of us have it as current way of life. And so we have to be intentional about putting it off.

Let me just give you an example. You remember that intentionality came into play when Jesus went to a place called the pool of Bethesda? And he walked over to a particular gentleman. There were a lot of lame, a lot of infirm people there, and he walked to a particular man and Jesus asked him a question that would make a lot of folks say, "What?"

He said, "Do you want to get well?" Everybody there is sick! Everybody there is infirm! Everybody there is in some sort of makeshift hospice with people who care about them trying to come by and make sure they have food, make sure they have their basic needs met. It was pretty much a type of homeless encampment in Jesus' day.

Jesus walks up to one man and what does he say? "Do you want to get well?" Why would you ask, Jesus? You usually ask smart questions. What's that about? Everybody here is sick. Well, here's what Jesus knew, and he put that story in the gospels to make sure we know it: not everybody sick is ready to be intentional about getting well.

Not everyone sick is ready to be intentional about getting well. Some folk use sickness as a cloak. Some folk use being just jacked up as something to justify that they're not trying to go anywhere, not trying to go anywhere, not trying to do anything, don't want to make any changes. They just want somebody to take care of them right while they're still in their current state.

This guy, when he's asked the question, what does he do? He starts talking about people and pools. "The people are always going ahead of me. Ain't nobody worried about me. I've been here, I've got pool seniority. I've been here 38 years. And these people are still, these oh insensitive people, still run ahead of me, jump in the pool."

So when the angel comes down and troubles the water—which was what they believed, when the waters were troubled, you got in and you were healed—and so, "These people are always—nobody, nobody cares about me. I've been here 38 years." Jesus didn't say, "How long you been here, dude? Why aren't you healed by now?"

Jesus asked him one question: "Do you want to get better?" Some of us have to answer that question, and I'm encouraging you to answer it today. Look at all the junk. Look at all the stuff. Do you want to get better? I'm not going to assume you want to just because I just pointed out your junk.

The issue is: what are you going to do about your issues? Do you want to get well? Jesus asked the man at the pool, and I'm asking you. When it comes to the junk—sin, weights, junk, dysfunction, whatever is in your life that needs to change so that you can become stronger, wiser, better—do you really want to be intentional about dealing with it? That's what will have to happen if you're going to reach the goal of stronger, wiser, better.

Guest (Male): What about you? Do you want to be made well? Remember, the God who began a good work in you will continue that work until the day of Christ Jesus. And if you need prayer today, please visit pastorpaul.net and click contact in the top menu of our homepage to share your request with us. Our ministry team is always happy to lift you up in prayer.

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 lives 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 like 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, PO Box 1767, Fremont, California, 94538.

Paul Sheppard: Why do I say that? Because sometimes change is scarier and a scarier proposition or more challenging a proposition than people remaining the way they are.

Guest (Male): That's tomorrow in our continuing message Junk Removal for the Soul. Until then, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.