Destined for Victory

Guest (Male): I don't know how long you've been walking with God, but let me tell you something. He won't kill your giants till you're standing in front of them most times. He's sovereign and can do what he wants, but God's MO is to let the giant stand there and talk about you and your mama.

Paul Sheppard: It was God, not David, who killed Goliath, but David had to get out there and throw a rock.

Guest (Male): Hello and thanks for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Sheppard. Well, make no mistake, God is the one who wins our battles, but we are often required to be willing participants in what he's doing.

We've got a great message coming your way today, one that we hope will embolden your faith and strengthen your resolve. As always, you're invited to come see us at pastorpaul.net where you can listen to any recent message on demand including today's. That's pastorpaul.net. Now, let's listen closely to Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message, Trust Him.

Paul Sheppard: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. My subject is just two words: Trust him. Trust him.

This passage, Proverbs 3:5-6, is one of those passages that many Bible readers have long since memorized. I remember it was one of the first passages that I memorized as a child, a Sunday school child, where we'd have those memory verses and this was certainly one such passage. And you would recite it in class to your teacher.

And many of us who have been in the word either for many years or for a relatively short period of time, if you spent time in the Proverbs, no doubt this has been one of those oft-quoted, oft-cited, oft-referred to passages. But more important than memorizing it is actualizing it.

And I've come to encourage you to not just know it, but I want to encourage you to live it. It's a great passage to know, but I showed up to tell you it's a wonderful passage to live. To be able to trust in the Lord with all of your heart and, watch this one, and to lean not to your own understanding. Smart as you are, able as you are, the challenge here is don't lean on your understanding, trust in the Lord.

And then verse six says in all of your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. Let's dig in. Trust is the operative word, is the anchor word of the passage. The passage is built on the word trust.

And the first thing I want you to understand is that there is a fundamental difference between faith and trust. Perhaps you've never thought about it, but that's why I'm preaching. There's a difference between faith and trust.

Now, if you look it up in Webster's or some dictionary you'll probably see more or less synonymous definitions. But when you look at the biblical concepts, you will find that yes, faith and trust are definitely related, but that they are fundamentally different.

Let me see if I can make that plain. Faith, biblical faith, has to do with our response to something God has said, to something God has revealed, to something God has instructed. That's biblical faith. Faith is a response to a word, an instruction, a revelation from God.

God says something to me in his word, by his spirit, and I can respond in faith. Or, of course, I can respond in unbelief and miss my blessing. But I can respond in faith and the Bible, of course, calls us to be people who live that way.

The Bible says the just shall live by faith. So faith has to do with my response to God. Hebrews 11:1 gives you a built-in definition for faith. King James says faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

NIV says faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see. So there's a built-in definition of faith from a biblical standpoint. Faith is my assurance that God's going to come through like he said he would.

Faith is my assurance that God is going to be true to his word and so as a result of receiving his word, I respond with confidence, with assurance that that will happen. Romans 10:17 says, so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. I've often said, but it bears repeating now, if you don't have a word from God, you have nothing to base faith on.

Which is why as believers we've got to be in the Bible, because the Bible gives us God's revelation, God's word to us. And when you understand its teachings, its precepts, its principles, its instructions for our lives, now we have something to base a life of faith on because we can say God said it and I'm going to respond in obedience to what God says.

My action is going to be a reflection of the fact that I am believing God that he will be true to his word in my life. That's faith. Faith needs a word to respond to. In Matthew 14, when Jesus had to rescue his disciples, they were in the middle of the lake, in the middle of the night, in the midst of a storm.

He knew they were in trouble and so he, having stayed on the land to commune with his father, said let me go take care of these fellows. There was no more boat, but Jesus, being the creator God, just began walking on the water.

And you know, folks who are just hung up on their intellect say well that's impossible. Yeah, well what else is new? You live on a planet that's impossible to exist, but you're here. You're on a planet that's being held up by nothing you can see. And I don't see you troubled by that.

And yet your Bible says this planet is being held up by the word of God. It's being held up because God says stand there. That's why we're here, so don't pick the things you're going to be frustrated by. If you're going to be frustrated with "I need to understand it in order to believe it," well let's start with well how did life exist? Where did life come from?

Unless you understand that there is a God who stepped out into nothing and said "let there be" and there was, you're going to be a pretty frustrated person. You're going to be pretty messed up because you have to explain how something came from nothing without a somebody to make it. So don't trouble yourself with picking a few little miracles in the Bible you don't necessarily have a comfort level with.

I just don't see how he walked on the water. Well, he made it. If he made it, I suppose he can walk on it. Jesus walked on the water. And as he approached the boat they looked out and saw—now their boat is taking on water, they're going to drown if not for some intervention, and that's why Jesus is coming in the first place—and they see him and somebody says, "Oh, there's a ghost out here."

As if it's not bad enough that we are out here in a storm taking on water on this ship, now a ghost has come out here to mess with us. And Jesus hollered out across from them, "Fear not, it's me." And Peter, my boy, Peter says, "Lord, if it's you, bid me to come where you are."

Jesus is standing out there on the water, going up with the waves. And Peter, adventurous fellow that he is, says, "If that's really you, prove it by letting me come out there also." We criticize Peter and there's a lot to say about him, but I like some things about him.

I like the fact that he wasn't going to stand in the boat and try to figure out if it was Jesus. He said, "Hey, we're taking on water anyway. Unless there's divine intervention, we are dead anyhow." So you know, I might as well just see what's up here. While the other folk cowering in the boat, he said let me just take a chance here.

But notice, he practiced faith rather than presumption because he said "bid me to come." See, faith has to have something from God to respond to. And so Jesus' response to him was "Come." Now that God has said "Come," you've got something to base faith on.

If you just standing there and say, "You know what, I believe if he walking on the water, I can walk on the water too," then what would have happened is he'd have climbed over the side, let go, and you'd have heard a splash. That's presumption. Who told you you could walk on water?

And you want to be careful as you live your life not to be presumptuous. You want to live your life understanding the will of God as best you can and responding to his will. Because God watches, he told his prophet Jeremiah, "I watch over my word to perform it." God doesn't watch over your word. If you said it, you better bring it to pass.

But if God said it, he'll bring it to pass. Well that's faith, that's my point. Faith responds to a word. Faith is our response to what God has said. If God doesn't say anything, I don't have anything to base my faith on.

So in the Old Testament, when Joshua and Caleb were two of the twelve spies that went over to look at the land that God had said he was giving to his people, they've got a word. Twelve spies go over, ten of them come back and say we can't do it. See, that's an example of unbelief in response to a word from God. Only Joshua and Caleb said let's go over at once. I know there are giants, I know there are walled cities over there, I know there are all kinds of obstacles. But since God said it's ours, let's go.

Guest (Male): Still ahead, the second half of today's Destined for Victory message with Pastor Paul Sheppard. If you're new to the program, we want you to know that we've archived all of our recent messages at our website pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net. Listen and subscribe to the podcast also at Spotify, at Apple Podcasts, or wherever you enjoy your podcasts. Now, let's get you back to the rest of today's Destined for Victory message, Trust Him.

Paul Sheppard: God knew there were giants over there, God knew there were walled cities over there, and he'll take care of them once we go. See, a lot of us want God to kill all the giants before we go. Not you, but people I know. Want all the giants dead before—well Lord, if it's really you, kill them. No.

I don't know how long you've been walking with God, but let me tell you something. He won't kill your giants till you're standing in front of them most times. He's sovereign and can do what he wants, but God's MO is to let the giant stand there and talk about you and your mama. That's the way God operates.

He'll let the giant try to intimidate you, he'll let the giant—anybody ever experienced that? He will let your obstacles and your enemies seem like they are big and strong and powerful so that your faith can be strengthened. Faith can't grow strong until it has something to respond to.

And so faith grows when a Goliath is standing there saying I'm about to feed you to the birds of the air. And little David, who's so young he's not even old enough to be in the army, responds by saying you think you're feeding me to the birds of the air? No, you got it wrong, buddy. I'm getting ready to kill you. And that's what God loves.

Hebrews 11:6 says without faith it's impossible to please him. For he that comes to God must first believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. God loves it when we are diligent, steadfast in believing him. Against all odds, we believe him to make his word good. That's faith.

Trust is in a different category. It's related, but it's in a different category. In this way, faith then because it responds to a word from God has a rather narrow focus. Because by definition faith has to be my response to what God said about this.

So if God said he will meet my need, my faith is aimed at believing God to meet my, say my financial need. So I'm waiting on God for a job and what have you, but he has promised to supply my needs and so my faith is God's going to bless me with a job. I don't care what the economy's like, I don't care what's going on, he's going to bless me with a job and in the meantime he's going to take care of me because I have a word from God. That's faith. It focuses then on the response to a particular thing.

Trust is a broader state. Trust in the Lord, here in Proverbs 3 verse 5. The word trust is the Hebrew word *batach*. And it is a word that not only means confidence, which would sound like it's somewhat of a synonym with faith, but it means things like secure.

It means things like, watch this one, one of the definitions for the word *batach* is careless. Another definition that I loved as I researched the word is unsuspecting. To trust God is to be unsuspecting around God. To be careless around God.

You say what in the world does that mean? That means I so rely on the integrity of who God is until like a child carelessly playing in the presence of his or her mother who the child knows mom loves me and is so careless because the child figures mom will bail me out of whatever I get myself into.

Have you ever noticed a child can be trusting to a fault? Children can be trusting until it's dangerous because they have to learn not to trust. It's based on being naive, we know that. They don't understand, so when they see a fire, a little young child doesn't know yet fire's hot, stay away.

So you'll see them, they see the fire, they staring at it, and then their hand'll reach because that's based on naivety. They don't understand you shouldn't do that. They will walk near the edge of something because they don't understand, no, you don't want to get too close, you might fall off. They don't have a context for that.

And so in their state of being naive and being around a parent they trust, they just do anything, just wander anywhere. Because the bottom line is, you're supposed to take care of me so do your job. I'm gonna give you something to do.

And the word *batach* means to be so naive as to say God's got me covered. It's to be so naive that I don't take upon myself the weight of my world. Oh this is a word for somebody who is trying to take on the weight of your world because if you don't take it on, who in the world is going to take it on?

And what you don't understand is that that is an insult to your God when the Bible says trust in the Lord. Have such bold confidence before God in his presence that you are careless, that you are unsuspecting, you don't have an ounce of distrust in God.

I just believe, I'm crazy enough, naive enough to believe that God has got me covered. I will stake my life on the fact that God's got me covered. Trust in the Lord. It's a state of being childlike.

See, Jesus taught at one place in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 18. At one point he called a child to him in verse two of Matthew 18 and then said to his audience, unless you become like this child you won't enter the kingdom of heaven. Now what's he talking about? He's talking about not being childish but being childlike. There is a difference.

Being childish is being immature, petty. Not you, I didn't say that about you. Why'd you look at me that way? I didn't say that about you. The person, somebody on your row. Somebody on your row, this fits. They're childish. Childish, they're petty, they're immature, they pout when they don't get their way. They want everyone to jump through their hoops. Your job is to make me happy. That's childish.

And God's trying to get us to grow up, because I hope you do know that you're not as old as your chronological age, you're old as your emotional age. Have you ever run into a grown baby? Ever run into a grown baby? You probably have a few on your job, few in your family somewhere. Grown babies, old and young at the same time. Babies, pouty, "have to have my way," childish, immature, spoiled, childish.

That's not what Jesus meant in Matthew 18. He meant childlike. He's focusing on the fact that children have an uncanny ability to just trust that everything's going to be all right. Kids don't walk around, "Oh man. Oh. How are we gonna make it?" Kids don't, have you ever noticed that? They don't bear the weight of the world on their shoulders. Even if they have a problem or something they'll cry and tell you what's going on and get it out, five minutes later they want to play.

Guest (Male): We're so glad you made time to be with us for today's Destined for Victory message entitled Trust Him. It's always a pleasure to have you with us. You know, all of us at Destined for Victory want to help as many people as we can come to faith in Christ, to learn to trust him in all things.

But to do that we need partners just like you. True partnership is the foundation of any listener-supported ministry, and it's a core value Pastor Paul Sheppard put in place years ago. I once spoke with him about the benefits of partnership and today I want to share a bit of that conversation with you.

Paul Sheppard: You're absolutely right. 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 when you think about it, Jesus said in Matthew 6 don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth corrupts and things get eroded and all that.

He says you need to store up treasures in heaven and 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 and 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. And I know that to be true, God has blessed me over the years because of faithful listeners who stand with us every month and 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.

And there is no Pastor Paul or any of the other ministers that God has used 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 on Destined for Victory, without you there would be no us. When you decide to become a Destined for Victory partner for as little as $20 a month, we'll send a few thank you gifts your way, 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 most humorous illustrations and stories, something I think the entire family will enjoy.

So call 855-339-5500 or mail your gift letting us know you'd like to partner with us. The address, Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California 94538. You can also sign up by clicking "become a partner" at the top of the homepage at 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, You Are So Loved. For more information on this outstanding resource, please stop by pastorpaul.net.

Paul Sheppard: Just say I was wrong. I blew that. I'm sorry. Get it out and you'll discover that your failures are written in pencil. You'll discover that your failures aren't in permanent ink. The devil wanted to write them in permanent ink, but God didn't let him touch the paper.

Guest (Male): In the Christian life, failure is not an option, it's a guarantee. Join us next time for a continuing message, Trust Him. Until then, though, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.