Destined for Victory

Paul Sheppard: And you've got to live on your job with integrity. We need people in corporate. We need people in business. We need Christian businesses. We need Christian mechanics who will tell you what is really wrong with your car and fix it for a fair price.

Guest (Male): Whatsoever you do, do your work heartily as if for God and not for men. Hello and welcome to Destined for Victory, where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Sheppard. One of the most important aspects of faithfulness is humility, lowering ourselves and lifting others up. It's something we should strive to do in all aspects of our lives, including our jobs.

Before we get started with today's message, let me remind you to visit pastorpaul.net when you get a chance. That's where you can hear any recent Destined for Victory message on demand and find details about how to subscribe to our podcast. Again, the web address is pastorpaul.net. Now, let's listen closely to Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message, Be Faithful.

Paul Sheppard: Have you ever run into folk? They have done you wrong. They'll tell you everything but "I'm sorry." Oh, I see y'all know a few of them. Everything but "I'm sorry." They will explain what they intended to do. They'll give you all you want to know about their intentions and motivations.

When you have run somebody over and they are laying there bleeding and dying, no need of you pulling over, getting out the car, standing over them and telling them you didn't see them and you never meant to hurt them. You need to empathize. You need to get some help. You need to say, "I'm terribly sorry. Oh, what have I done? How can I deal with this?" And get these folk some help. When you have offended me, don't explain yourself to me. Tell me you are sorry.

Humble yourself. Acknowledge that you messed up. My temperament, I had learned by then how to apologize. I had that level of emotional maturity, but I still didn't have much empathy and this woman was devastated. But in that moment, I didn't know how empathetic I could be until God gave me an opportunity. God will use your mess-ups to teach you.

In that moment, my heart filled with compassion and empathy for that woman. The way I often describe it, I had a meltdown right there on the spot. I had a meltdown when I almost kind of blanked out because when I came to myself, I was on my knees. She was sitting on her chair in the classroom where she taught. I was on my knees by her lap. I had my arms around her legs.

This had to be some scene. I was newly married. I couldn't have been married more than a year, year and a half. If Meredith had come up to see me and walked in on this, I'm on my knees, got my arms around this lady's legs. I was bawling. I was crying harder at that point than she was crying when I first got to the room.

I was bawling. I had my head in the lady's lap. I'm telling you no lie. God is my witness. I was begging her to forgive me. The funniest thing, when I think back on it, by that time when she saw my empathy and my heart, she started consoling me. I kid you not. Picture it now. I'm on my knees. I got my arms around this lady's legs. My head's in her lap. I'm begging her to forgive me. And she's patting me on the back saying, "Oh, Pastor, you didn't mean any harm. It's all right."

She saw that I cared about this wounded sheep. All she needed to know when it was all said and done was that I cared about her more than I cared about my reputation or my influence. I found out as a pastor, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. You don't get to speak deeply into their lives if they don't trust where your heart is.

God had to teach me how to be a shepherd. He had to teach me how to love and care for the flock. He had to teach me how to be patient. He had to teach me how to be kind. The point I'm making simply is that when God gives you a calling, he'll build in everything you need to be faithful to your calling. You need to find out, what is it that God has called me to do?

Not everyone's called to vocational ministry. In fact, most of us are not called. The reason why most of us aren't called to vocational ministry is that those of us who are pastors and teachers in the body of Christ, we are very much like coaches. Our job is to be a filling station to provide what the body of Christ needs so that when you go forth, you go forth empowered with the word of God and the spirit of God and you do the work of ministry when you leave church.

Most of the folk don't need to be coaches. You've got to have most of the people playing in the game. So God has called you. Wherever he has called you, I want to affirm that calling and I want to ask you to say yes to him. There are those of you who are called to corporate America. God knows we need godly people in corporate America. We ought to be tired of all the mess going on in corporate because people lack values and integrity.

It's time for God's people to rise to significant positions in boardrooms, in decision-making rooms. It's time for God's people who are holy and righteous and who will not cheat, who will not lie, who will not change the appearance of things and be deceptive. We need people who will let God bless the work of their hands because they walk in integrity. I want to encourage you, if you're an executive in corporate or whatever level you are in corporate, be faithful to God and use that as a calling to honor him where you are.

Be like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who had significant positions of influence but they chose to walk with God and obey him no matter what. Don't lie on your job. Don't steal on your job. Don't take stuff that doesn't belong to you because everybody else is doing it. You answer to the Lord and you've got to live on your job with integrity. We need people in corporate. We need people in business. We need Christian businesses. We need Christian mechanics who will tell you what is really wrong with your car and fix it for a fair price.

If that's your calling, God knows the world needs you. Fix those cars right in Jesus' name. Now, charge a good price. Make your money now. Don't think, "Well, in order to have a Christian business, I guess I can't make anything." Wrong answer. You give people a good day's work, you earn your pay. Don't apologize for handing them a bill. Be anointed to hand a bill. "Here you go. I fixed it right. Here's what you owe me."

You might find, every now and then, you might find someone who really is in financial straits, but they need their car fixed up and God will bless you to be able to help them free of charge. Say, "No, he's blessed me in other ways. I'm just going to trust him for this." We need people. We need Christian blue-collar workers as well as white-collar workers. We need Christians in education. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I said it's the beginning of wisdom.

There is never a contradiction between wisdom and godly knowledge. We need Christians in education. I want to let you know, we need them in higher education. Thank God we have Christian professors in this church, people who serve in higher education and teach at that level, but they honor God in the process. We need that. We need them at every level of education. We need them in private education. We need them in public education.

Sometimes we spend so much time and energy decrying public education until we fail to realize that most people, that's where they are. So no need of crying about it to the ignoring of the problem. We need some folk who will be godly public educators and who will say, "Yeah, I know they're taking all kinds of things out of our hands and now they don't want the teacher to have the Bible even on the desk in your classroom." But you've got to understand something. The Bible says, "Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against God."

You can teach it and they never know where it came from. You can teach the principles of integrity straight out of the pages of scripture as you're teaching whatever disciplines you are covering. You can teach integrity and life lessons and folk will never know where you got it from and you got it straight out of the word of God. What I found out is that it's the truth that'll set people free, not the address.

If you're in a setting where they won't let you give chapter and verse, oh well. You can give the truth of that chapter and verse. It's a funny thing. You can teach the principles and precepts of scripture and just not share where you got it from and folk will come stand in your supervisors and what have you, vice principal come stand in the back of your classroom and watch you teach and they'll admire, "Oh, that's just wonderful." They'll only get upset once they find out where you got it from.

But if they don't ask, oh well. Now, if they ask, tell them. "Came out the scriptures." It's truth and it's truth that'll set people free. Some are called to private education. Some are called to public education. Wherever you're called, that's where you need to go. We need some folk in government who are godly and righteous. Oh, my Lord. We need to be governed by people whose lives are governed by the Lord Jesus Christ.

We need to submit to the authority of people whose lives are submitted to the authority of Christ. The reality is the Bible calls you to submit to government no matter how righteous or unrighteous they are, which is why we need righteous people, because it's easier to submit to righteous people. It's easier to go along with what they're doing because these are folk who have a sense of stewardship and they know that they have to answer to God.

If that's your calling, God wants you to get at that calling because he is up to something in your life. He wants a return on his investment. God wants people in entertainment who will represent him. He wants people in every area of life who will represent him. If you can work in a godly fashion, if it doesn't contradict the principles and precepts of scripture, God may call you to any area that is where you can make an honest and godly living. You need to know that your job is to be an ambassador of Christ. That is, you represent him in that world.

You're there not to serve your purpose, you're there to serve his. I want to let you know that you, like Paul, must be faithful to your calling. Like Paul, you've got to understand there are going to be some challenges with your calling. With every calling, there are challenges as well as opportunities. There are decisions you have to make. Some folk are called to make decisions. You have to live on a certain income in order to do what God's called you to do.

You have to say yes to that and believe God that he'll meet your need and that he'll give you fulfillment in your heart even though there isn't the opportunity for you to earn a very good living in terms of the financial bottom line. Remember, man's life does not consist, Jesus said, in the abundance of things that he possesses. So if God calls you with a calling that will require you to live a very simple life, understand that there is a joy and a fulfillment in doing God's will that goes far beyond your material possessions.

There are other people who are called to have the wealth but to not let the wealth have them. Because they'll be kingdom-first and they'll make sure that they do the will of God with it. I know there's some Christians who are uncomfortable with that part. They are very uncomfortable with the idea of Christians having wealth. The key thing is that if you do God's will with it, he will be glorified.

I don't believe against that. Those that do, fine. Have your faith but have it to yourself. Don't impose that on everybody. As a leader of a couple of different ministries, not only this church but a growing radio ministry, I know that we need God's people to have some money. Because when I on the radio say, "We need you to donate so that we can stay on this station," somebody's got to have something to donate.

Thank God for the $20s and $30s and $40s a month. Those folk will sustain you. But God knows you also need some folk who can write you a five-figure, six-figure, and I'm praying for a seven-figure check. I'm believing and I'm praying. I said, "Oh God, I know your folk got your money. Loose it, Jesus." Because we're trying to get on stations all over the nation so we can preach the word of God. The stations won't put me on because they like me.

I found out they'll only put me on when they know I can pay the bills. God's folk got to have some money so we can support local churches. We can support parachurch organizations. We can support missionaries around the world. God's folk have to have it in order to give it. Wealth is not the problem. It is wealth having you and you having wrong unbiblical priorities that is the problem.

I'm praying for some major donors who are kingdom-first, asking God for some folk who understand that it takes big bucks to do his will in media ministry. I've heard about ministries that have gotten seven-figure donations from single families or single individuals. I said, "Oh Lord, Lord, introduce me to some of those folk. Give me a divine appointment, Jesus."

I was talking to a fellow broadcaster and he was telling me he was praying about getting on a certain station, the most expensive station in the country in terms of what it would cost you to broadcast daily on that station. He said he was praying about this a few years ago. He gathered with a group of donors and was sharing with them the vision. He said one man stepped up to him afterwards and said, "You know what? I sense that that is really God's will for you to get on that station. Your voice is needed there." And he said, "I'm going to pay for the first year broadcasting on that station alone to get you your start." Man wrote him a check for somewhere in the neighborhood of $250,000 so he could seed that ministry on that one station for a year.

I asked for the guy's name but he wouldn't give it to me. Guess he said, "I love you and all but, you know, you pray for your own donors." Fact of the matter is, whatever your calling, if you're called to have it and use it for God's glory, then fulfill that calling with excellence. If you're called to live very simply, do it with excellence. Do it without throwing off on everybody else. Be faithful to what God's called you to do. Be faithful as a steward.

Finally, he wraps up the chapter by talking about being faithful as a son. As a son, he begins to use the language of sonship when he says, "Now, y'all all need to understand that I'm saying these things to you because you're my children in the faith." He says, "I want you to know that you have many guardians but you only have one father. And I want you to imitate me and my way of life in Christ."

He says, "I'm sending Timothy, my beloved son. He's going to show you my way of life." In other words, he is saying, "You all need a model to follow in holiness. You need a model, an example to follow, and God puts spiritual parents and spiritual mentors in your life to teach you how to live." You've got to understand that parenting is a powerful principle and God has placed it in the body of Christ as well as in the natural.

You have spiritual parents when God uses somebody to birth you into the kingdom. Then later on, you'll have pastors in your local church. He may also give you in your sphere of influence some spiritual mentors who will walk with you and teach you the way of the Lord. You've got to learn to honor the principle and submit yourself as a son or daughter of God and say, "Teach me what it is to walk with God. Teach me what it looks like to love my family. Teach me what it looks like to balance my life. Teach me what it looks like to have godly priorities."

We need examples. Our world is hurting because we need some folk to show us the way. Paul says on your end you've got to learn to submit. When God gives you spiritual parents and gives you pastors and spiritual mentors, you've got to get under them. The Bible practice was apprenticeship. When you learned the trade in Bible days, it was apprenticeship. You would submit yourself to that master and you would learn the trade. In exchange for that knowledge, you would work for them and do whatever they needed done and you didn't talk back.

These are days where folk think they can milk you of all your knowledge and wisdom. Kids think they can live in your house and do anything they want. Wrong answer. Parenting is meant to guide. Parents aren't just to get the kids here and then let them have at it. Your job is to guide and to direct. Children need parents. They need somebody to tell them, "I better not see that again."

Come on somebody. I know that's old-fashioned, but it's still right. I'm glad I grew up in a generation. I grew up around folk who didn't play back-talk. They just didn't play it. You just couldn't do it. They tell you, "That's the last time I want to see that," and they meant it. They didn't threaten a hundred times. You ever hear these parents these days? Just threatening, "I'm going to—if you don't stop it." Three minutes later, "I said stop it." Two minutes later, "I'm not playing with you." A minute later, "All right now." Oh, that's way too much talking. My Lord have mercy. You are talking too much.

Somebody got to have some authority, godly balanced authority in there. I'm not talking about abuse and disrespect, but we had parents who meant what they said. There were things you couldn't say in their house. They better not hear that you said it outside of their house. In fact, there were words we couldn't say because it sounded like we were trying to say something else.

I got some witnesses. My parents said, "I don't want to hear 'dag' in my house. D-A-G, I guess that's how you spell it. Dag. Because sounded like we were trying to say something else to them. They didn't want to hear 'shoot.' Because sounded like we wanted to swap the vowel. Come on somebody. And they meant what they said. We were better off for it.

I, using that example, was able to parent some children who are balanced and who weren't beat on and all that because sometimes this conjures up the wrong things in people's minds. When you have the right kind of authority and you play the role God's given you to play, you don't have to beat on those kids. I practiced very little corporal punishment as a parent of my children when they were young and coming up. Very little. Because they knew Pop means what he says. Don't fool with him.

My voice. My children to this day, they're both young adults. To this day they'll get on the phone and talk. "Remember that time we were fighting and Dad heard us in the other room and called our name?" I heard them say it one time. And when he called your first and your middle name, I cracked up when I heard him say that because I didn't really realize I did that. But to them that meant, "Uh oh." When I said, "Alicia Renee and Aaron Timothy," they said, "We stopped fighting immediately in mid-swing." That was it. Fight's over. It's a draw. Let's shake hands, hug, make up. Let's pray for one another. You got any prayer requests? So that by the time I get to the room, they're saying, "Father, in the name of..." No, I'm playing. They didn't do that part.

Guest (Male): Thanks so much for being here with us for today's Destined for Victory message, Be Faithful. Well, our mission at Destined for Victory is to point people to the love of God and to the good news of his salvation. To do that, we need your help, especially during the busy summer months when donations tend to take a dip. With that in mind, our executive director Alicia Greer has an important message to share with you. Alicia?

Alicia Greer: I hope you're excited for summer time. I know I am. And for all of you who, like me, have kiddos out of school, may God's grace abound to you in this season. I just wanted to stop by and remind you to please prayerfully keep in mind ministries like Destined for Victory during this season. Pastor Paul would always do this, and the reason for that is giving tends to drop the most during this time of year.

I just wanted to ask you to prayerfully consider sending a special gift to Destined for Victory to help us continue airing these teachings during the often challenging summer months. When you do, we're pleased to make available a special thank you gift in June. It's a video collection of *Let My People Smile*, and it's available to everyone who sends in their most generous donation of $25 or more. Thank you so much and God bless.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Alicia. *Let My People Smile* is Pastor Paul at his very best, combining biblical wisdom with his unique style and humor. For the first time, we're making it available on video. You can choose from DVD or streaming link when you make your most generous gift of $25 or more in June. So visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation right there online. Or call us at 855-339-5500. 855-339-5500. If you prefer, you can mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California, 94538.

Paul Sheppard: Let me tell you something. You've got to get good and comfortable with the idea that you don't know it all. We won't. God shows us what we need to know to get from here to heaven. That's all you're going to know in this world. Everything you need to know to get from here to heaven.

Guest (Male): That's next time in our message, Living by the JOY—J-O-Y—Principle. Until then, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.