Destined for Victory

Guest (Male): Do you want to be changed for the better? For some people, the answer isn't always yes. Hello and welcome to Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard. Coming your way in just a few moments is an important message about being made well. But before we start, our executive director, Alicia Greer, wants to personally thank you for all you're doing to keep Destined for Victory on the air. Alicia?

Alicia Greer: Hi everyone. I wanted to share something really encouraging with you. I was looking at the comments on Pastor Paul's YouTube channel and was delighted to see a couple of people mention that they only just discovered his teachings after his passing. To me, that is a powerful reminder of why this ministry continues to matter.

Your contributions aren't just keeping his voice on the air for our faithful listeners. They're actively reaching new people who had never had the chance to hear him before. I'm so grateful for that. If you'd like to continue supporting this work, visit pastorpaul.net/donate for a full list of ways you can partner with the ministry. Thank you, and let's keep reaching the world for Christ together.

Guest (Male): Well, as you heard Alicia say just now, our audience continues to grow, which means more and more people can hear Pastor Paul's timeless truth for victorious life. But that's only possible as you support the ministry with your prayers and financial gifts.

When you give today, we have a great new resource to send you as our way of saying thanks. It's a new booklet called Truth, Temper, and Treasure. In Ephesians 4, the Apostle Paul talks about our new life in Christ and what it should look like. In this resource, Pastor Paul does a deep dive into three key areas: telling the truth, controlling our temper, and honoring God with our tithes and offerings.

I encourage you to get your copy today and see how the Lord wants to help you grow in these areas. That's Truth, Temper, and Treasure, our thank-you gift this month when you make a generous donation to Destined for Victory by calling 855-339-5500. That is 855-339-5500, or by visiting 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.

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): Spiritual growth, really any kind of growth, takes courage and determination. It can be intimidating or scary at times. Today on Destined for Victory, Pastor Paul offers two examples of people who had an opportunity to grow but who ultimately decided against it. The message is called Junk Removal for the Soul, and it starts now.

Paul Sheppard: Putting off the old sometimes demands courage. Putting off the old sometimes demands courage. Do you understand what I'm saying? You might say, "Okay, yes, I do want to get better, and I do want to be intentional." But let's look at if this is a change that's going to require courage on your part. 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.

Decades ago, I think it was actually 1988 to be exact, I heard one of my mentors. That was the year before I left Philadelphia to assume my first pastorate in California. One of my mentors that had really helped me in those early years was Bishop C. Milton Grannum. He preached at a convention. I was also a preacher at that convention in '88, and I sat through his service. He told a story that impacted me. I've never forgotten it. But it helps me to make this point now.

There was a form of blindness that once they were able to correct with an operation, they were offering to people who had that specific form of blindness. And so this one gentleman said, "Yes, I would love to see," and he had that particular condition. And so he had the operation, and the doctor said it was successful. He was bandaged up after it, and they did whatever they had to do for the recovery process.

But at a certain point, they took the bandages off and they had the man open his eyes. The doctor standing in front of him said, "Do you see me?" To which the gentleman said, "Yes! Yes! Oh my goodness, yes, I see you!" And the doctor said, "Okay, good." And he said, "How many fingers do I have up?" He was holding up four fingers in front of him. And the gentleman said, "Wait," and he grabbed his hand and counted them as he touched them and said, "Four."

And then he said, "Look over there. Do you see that piece of fruit?" "Yes! Yes, I see it!" He said, "What is it?" And the gentleman said, "Bring it to me. Because if I touch it, I can tell you what it is." And they continued to do more and more exercises like that where he was asked to identify something he saw. But when he was asked what it was, he could only answer once he touched it or once he heard it.

Why? Because he was accustomed to interacting in the world with all the other senses leading the way. He had to use hearing, he had to use smell, he had to use touch. You see what I'm saying? The other senses ran his life, all of his life until this moment. Now he's had a successful operation in this unique form of blindness. He now has a new sense he never had before. But when you ask him what he's looking at, it's the other four that tell him.

And he experienced, Bishop Grannum went on to say in this message, this man experienced so much frustration because the sight, yes, gave him a new opportunity, but he had to relearn the whole world based on a new sense. And it became so frustrating for him in the early days of having to still function with the other senses leading the way, and then adding the responsibility of learning to identify his whole world now merely by his eyesight.

It became a frustration that was overwhelming. And Bishop said at a certain point, the man closed his eyes and chose to go back into voluntary blindness because he didn't have the fortitude to have to learn the whole world again based on a new sense. And I need to tell you something. Sometimes it takes courage to change, to grow, to allow newness to be introduced into your life. Sometimes it takes courage. It doesn't come easily.

So, are you willing to do whatever it takes, even if it's hard, if it's difficult, if it's going to put you through some changes you didn't count on? You're hoping your life gets easier, but for a season, it might get tougher. Are you willing to pay the price? Do you have the courage to change? You know what? That's an illustration just from modern life. But let's go back to the Bible, Genesis, and you'll find a story of a man named Jacob.

If you're a Bible reader, you know exactly who I'm talking about. He is one of the twin sons of Isaac and Rebecca. Jacob, born along with his brother Esau. Now Esau was the firstborn. Literally, he came out of the birth canal first. And Jacob came out right behind his brother. The Bible tells us that he was grabbing his brother when they came out of the womb. It was a sign of what was to come.

Jacob lived his life as a trickster, as a deceiver, as a supplanter. That's how Jacob lived. That's who he was. You know the stories. I don't have time to walk you through them, but you know exactly how it manifested. You remember the day when, as young men, Esau was out hunting. He was a hunter. He was a man of the outdoors, a gamesman, that sort of thing. And Jacob was not that. Jacob was home cooking.

And so when Esau came in famished, you know that story. He came in and said, "Hey, I'm about to die." He came in probably dehydrated, needed shade, needed water. But he just knew he felt like he was about to die. He tells his tricky brother who he thinks is going to look out for him, "Hey man, I need some food right away. What you're cooking? That stew? What you're cooking? I need some. Give me some."

And Jacob, always the trickster like some of y'all, said, "Oh sure, I'll hook you up. But first, give me your birthright. I want to switch the birth order functionally, and I want what the firstborn is entitled to," which is twice as much as his twin brother. Why? Because the firstborn is given the responsibility to carry the family name and the family enterprise into the next generation. Jacob wanted what Esau had. Esau wanted food.

But what kind of swap-off is that? I've had some great meals in my life, so have you. None of us have ever had a meal, a single meal, worth a lifetime of privilege and inheritance and blessing and awesome responsibility. But Esau, not thinking straight, not realizing all he needed to do is get in the shade, get some water. If his tricky brother won't give him some of that stew, he'll just call for somebody else in the house. "Come bring me some water, help me get out in the shade. Can y'all bring me something? I can't have that stew because it costs too much."

He's not thinking like that. And the Bible says he despised his birthright for a momentary sense of satisfaction. Let me tell you something. Every time I preach on that, I say don't be too hard on him because a whole lot of us have sold out for a little bit of nothing. Some of your relationships, you know good and well that was stew. Might have been good-looking stew, but it was stew at the end of the day. And some of y'all, if you're just going to be honest, say it wasn't all that good. Oh see, y'all perpetrating a fraud. But you know good and well some of that stew wasn't worth it, no matter how hungry you were. Go get you some water and be done. But the fact of the matter is, he sold a lifetime for momentary satisfaction.

Guest (Male): In case you joined us late, you're listening to Destined for Victory, where we feature the teaching ministry of Pastor Paul Sheppard. Stay with us. The second half 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.

Click "Contact" in the top menu of our homepage and share it with us. And of course, when you stop by our website, remember that's where you can listen to our broadcasts on demand at your convenience. pastorpaul.net. Now, for more on the story of Jacob and Esau and what it means for you and me, let's turn our attention to the rest of today's message, Junk Removal for the Soul.

Paul Sheppard: Now, this whole family is jacked up. This whole family is tricky. Read this story when you get a chance in Genesis. Whole family tricky. Mama was tricky because when the time came when Daddy Isaac is getting ready to die, and the man had to pronounce the blessing on his children, there was a special blessing on again the firstborn. Esau was entitled to a certain blessing from his dad, Isaac.

His brother and his brother's mama, both tricky. Rebecca is as tricky as Jacob. So she gets in cahoots with Jacob, and they both are going to conspire to steal the blessing that is supposed to go to Esau. How jacked up a family is that? Mama loves one son, one twin son, more than the other son. Jacked up. Your family's not the first jacked-up family all through redemptive history.

Rebecca, and you know the story. I don't have time for that. You read it when you get a chance. They conspire and they dress him up as though he is Esau, but it's really Jacob. And his father's eyesight was failing, so he couldn't tell just by sight. And so they pretended. Bottom line is, he stole the blessing and the birthright. By this time, Esau's mad. "I'm going to kill him."

And Rebecca said, "Son, your brother's angry. He's talking about killing you. You're going to have to leave here. Maybe you can come back sometime down the road. Right now, you've got to go." She sent him down to Uncle Laban's house in another region altogether. And he goes to Uncle Laban. But here's the problem with tricky families. Just like game recognizes game, tricky recognizes tricky.

And so he gets down there and doesn't know that his uncle is tricky. But Uncle sees him come down there, sees him fall in love with one of his daughters, Rachel. He said, "Okay, okay." And he goes, he said, "Man, I want to marry your daughter. What is it going to take for me to marry Rachel?" And he said, "Well, you've got to work for me for seven years." The Bible says he worked for Uncle Laban for seven years.

And the Bible even says those years seemed like just a few days. That's how sprung he was. Anytime seven years seem like a few days, you are sprung, brother. But that's what happened. After the seven years, he said, "All right." And he said, "All right, we're going to have the wedding." Had the wedding. But at night, they introduced the bride into dark chambers, and the groom comes into dark chambers, and he spends the night with a woman.

Wakes up the next morning, looks at who he's spent the night with in the light of a new day, and he said, "What?" Because he spent the night and he has married Leah, Rachel's sister. And he was expecting it to be his sister-in-law. Now that's his wife. Runs to Laban. "What did you do? You knew I worked for Rachel!" Laban, tricky Laban. "Oh, I didn't tell you? You can't have the younger daughter until you marry the older."

Said, "Those seven years were for you to work off Leah so you could have Rachel. Now, if you want Rachel, that's going to be another seven years." Tricky! And he got to marry Rachel, but he is still committed, and he's got to stay there for at least seven years, even married to both of them, so that he can work off the debt. Tricky! Bottom line is, he lives a whole tricky life.

And here is my point. This man gets to the place he's spent 20 years away from home, away from Canaan. 20 years dealing with the trickiness that he married into. And finally, it's time for him to have a fresh start. But there can be no fresh start without facing the consequences of his past. And as it is in his life, so it is in yours. Some of you want a fresh start, but I came to let you know you can't have a fresh start until you have the courage, I'm on the courage point, to face the consequences of what you've done to this point.

See, you've got to understand, you can't just pretend like your past doesn't exist. God's going to give you the ability if you have the courage, and He can even give you that if you ask for it. He's going to give you the ability to work through, not to look past, not to act like it didn't happen. The things in your past, your mistakes are your mistakes. They're always going to be there. Your issues are your issues until they get dealt with.

They're always going to be there. You've got to have the courage now to work through it and to do it God's way. So, I won't even turn to it in the interest of time because I've got to wrap this up in a few minutes. Let me just tell you. Go to Genesis 32 when you get a chance. And what you'll see is the 20 years are done. He has worked for Laban. He's dealt with all this trickiness. He is still realizing, "I've got to deal with what I did before."

So he's got to go back home and deal with Esau. He leaves Laban in a tricky way. You'll read that in Genesis 32. Laban runs after him saying, "Uh-uh, no, no, no, you're not going to do this." And they have a little intense fellowship. And then you'll read about how they work it out. Laban lets him go on his way after they work it out. But he's on his way to deal with the worst of his past, what he did to his brother Esau.

And here's what I want to point out to you. He hears, as they're on their way to Canaan, he gets word that Esau is coming for you. I came to tell somebody your past is coming for you. You can't ignore it. You're going to have to deal with it. His reconnaissance team went out and they came back and said, "Hey, Esau's on his way, and he's got 400 people with him." Hunted, H-U-N-I-D. 400.

When 400 of them are coming, you're going to have to deal with your stuff. He gets that word. 400 of them coming. Oh my Lord! So he starts sending waves of appeasement. He sends folk with gifts. He knows his brother has every right to kill him. And he's sending all this stuff. And he finally gets to the place, you read about it in 32, when he finally sends his family and he's now alone.

He said, "I'm coming. Y'all just go ahead." But he spends a night alone. He needs that night alone because he's not ready to face Esau till he faces himself. You're not ready to face your challenges, the issues of your past, until you're ready to face God honestly. And so in Genesis 32, beginning at verse 24, here's what you'll find: Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of day.

What man? We talking about where a man come from? It just said he's alone. God sent an angel in human form to have a wrestling match. He recognizes this guy wherever he came from, he must have what I need, or God wouldn't have sent him. And he grabs him, and they literally wrestle throughout that night. Jacob is alone, he's afraid, he's tired of himself. You won't get anywhere till you get sick of yourself.

And he got sick of himself. And he held on to this man. The man said, "I've got to go." He said, "Nope. Nope, nope, you're not leaving here till I get a blessing." And you know the story, read it. The man smote his hip and caused him to have to limp from then on. But he left him with a blessing. In fact, he said before he left, "You're no longer Jacob. You're Israel. You're no longer a trickster, a deceiver, a con artist. Get over. You're now a prince with God."

Brothers and sisters, that's what you've got to do. You've got to wrestle until God wins. When you wrestle with God until you lose, till you give up, till you're tired of you, till you're sick of you, till you say, "Lord, make me something better than who I am, what I am. I'm tired of being tricky. I'm tired of being" whatever you have to fill in that blank with. Tired of packing an attitude all the time.

Tired of being hateful, unforgiving, whatever it is. Call yourself who you are. No future in fronting. You've got to wrestle until you lose because when you lose to God, you actually win. Jesus showed you that in the garden. He said, "I don't want to have to go through this for these people." He knew what he was facing, carrying the sins of literally the whole world upon him.

He said, "If there's any way I can do this another way, please let this cup pass from me." Then Jesus knew, "I can't even ask for that. That is not. I know why I came." He said, "Nevertheless, not my will but yours, Father, be done." Wrestle with God, my friend, until you lose, till you surrender. I'm so glad I grew up in a church where the saints put you on the altar, said stay there until you give it all up.

Stay there until you say yes. When you say yes, when your fight's gone, you actually win. And I came to tell somebody you're going to get stronger, wiser, better. But there's going to be a process. There's going to be a pattern. You're going to have to identify the things that have to go.

Guest (Male): Have to renew your mind. I'm sick of being me. And you're going to have to say, "Okay, Lord, introduce the newness that will take me where you want me to be." We're so glad you stopped by for today's Destined for Victory message, Junk Removal for the Soul. 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. That is pastorpaul.net.

Paul Sheppard: Newness can't start with the stuff, with your life, with your lifestyle, with your actions. Newness has to start between your ears. Newness starts in the mind. Newness starts in the attitude. You've got to be made new in the attitude of your mind.

Guest (Male): That's next time in our message, The Gift of Frustration. Until then, remember, He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in Christ. You are destined for victory.