Destined for Victory

Guest (Male): Hello and welcome to Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard. Every day is a good day to study the word of God together. Before we kick off today's message, I've invited our executive director, Alicia Greer, to share just a few words about the impact you make as you support the ministry of Destined for Victory. 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 would never have 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. And we have listening friends and partners like you to thank. When you give today, we have a great resource to send you as our way of saying thanks, a great new booklet called "When Humans Attack".

You may remember the story of Mary and Martha from the Gospel of Luke. Martha is busy preparing a meal and doing household chores, and she goes from frantic to frustrated because Mary is spending time with Jesus instead of helping her out. Pastor Paul takes an honest look at this story in this booklet, contrasting distraction and devotion, and showing the value of pausing to be near Jesus.

It also offers some biblical wisdom about how to handle unmet expectations and personal conflict. That's "When Humans Attack," our thank-you gift this month when you make a generous donation to Destined for Victory. You can give by phone by calling 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-5500. Or visit pastorpaul.net to make a donation online. And you can mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California, 94538.

Paul Sheppard: I'm here to tell somebody that God wants to work some miracles in your life, but they will require that you give to him what you're trying to hold onto. And note why you ought to give it to him. Not only because he's going to work a miracle with it, but because in your hands, it's pitiful.

Guest (Male): Have you ever tried to single-handedly change something or someone? Your spouse or your children maybe, your circumstances? If so, you've picked a great day to join us on Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard because today you'll get some great insight about how to cast your cares on God. When we do that, that's when miracles happen. The message is called "If It Ain't Broke, Break It!", and it starts right now.

Paul Sheppard: The Bible says in John 6, verse five, "When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, 'Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?'" So Jesus actually asked one of them, "Now, we want to feed these folk. I want to feed them. I don't want to send them away. Where are we going to get bread for them?"

And look at verse six. It says, "He asked this only to test them because he already had in mind what he was going to do." Jesus wasn't just figuring this out as he went. He knew what he was going to do. But this is a training for his disciples. So he asked the question as a test: "Where shall we buy bread for these people?"

Philip comes back with the natural, normal answer. What is it? That eight months' wages wouldn't buy enough bread for each one to have even a bite. Philip said, in other words, we don't have the resources to meet this need. Good idea, Jesus. Nice that you have compassion, nice that you want to feed them, but we can't afford it.

We don't have the resources. Eight months' worth of salary could not buy enough bread for all these folk to just have one small bite and then pass it on. Thank you so much for sharing. The other one says, "Well, I went past just stating the obvious. I went and did a little inventory, a little search around just this group of people here. And all I found among them is one boy who has some fish sandwiches."

He had five small barley loaves and two fish. He hadn't put them together yet, but that makes fish sandwiches. So all we found, Jesus, was two fish sandwiches with some leftover bread. But what would that do when we're talking about untold thousands of people? And by the way, you are talking here about untold thousands, not 5,000.

We always say 5,000, but note what was said in Matthew's account. It said what ended up happening is God worked a miracle by which not only were 5,000 men fed, it said they didn't even count the women and children. How many know most men have a woman? And how many know most men and women together have some children, as my grandmama used to say it?

So we're not talking about the feeding of 5,000. We're talking about the feeding of well over 10,000, assuming that most of the men had a woman and most of the couples had one or two or more children. We're talking about five figures, 10,000 plus people. And all you've got to work with is a couple of fish sandwiches.

But Jesus has them set up. He said, "I'm not going to let you send them away. I want you to feed them." And so what is necessary in order for this miracle that Jesus wants to work to take place? What is the essential thing? Note the text. The essential thing is that somebody has something, however meager, however insufficient. Someone has something that they are willing to give to Jesus.

Because Matthew's account says when Jesus heard about this assessment that we do have five loaves of bread, small barley loaves, and two fish, Jesus said, "All right, now I'm going to show you that all it takes to see God work a miracle is someone who has something that is inadequate in their hands, but they are willing to put it in his hands."

So when Jesus hears about it, he says, "Bring them to me. A couple of fish sandwiches in your hands will only feed you. But let me show you what can happen when you take it out of your hands." Do y'all see yourselves being set up? "When you take it out of your hands and put it in my hands, it doesn't matter how pitiful it is in your hands. We're not talking about what you can do. We're talking about what I can do with what you give me."

So he says, "Bring it to me." I'm here to tell somebody that God wants to work some miracles in your life, but they will require that you give to him what you're trying to hold onto. And note why you ought to give it to him. Not only because he's going to work a miracle with it, but because in your hands, it's pitiful. Your money in your hands is pitiful. But your money in God's hands can produce a miracle.

Your marriage in your hands is pitiful. You who have been trying to change your spouse for how long now? Just take inventory. Just figure out just how long you've been fooling with this same, "She don't understand me. She doesn't hear me. She takes advantage of me. She takes me for granted." How long you've been playing that record? It's scratched by now.

Sisters, how long you've been talking about your husband? It's a scratched record by now. And how long you've been trying... See, you married thinking, "I can change him." I've told you many times before, women often marry thinking they will change the man. Men often marry thinking she will not change. Both are in for a rude awakening.

The woman who marries thinking, "I'm going to change him. See, he's got some nice things, but there's some rough edges. But don't worry about it because I'm going to change him." And you married your husband as a project. You didn't know you were taking him as is. And the preacher tried to tell you, "for better, for worse." You didn't believe him.

You thought it meant for better until I make him best. Come on, help me somebody. Be honest with yourself. You thought, "Yeah, yeah, I can work with him. Just give him to me. Put him in my hands." And you thought you had ownership of this project. As soon as he said, "I do," and as soon as many brothers said, "I do," their experience became that they suddenly had a wife whose attitude was, "All right, some things got to change around here."

And a lot of guys found themselves entering the twilight zone because they didn't understand that they were a project. But now, sisters, let's look back over these years that you've been fooling with your project. And now you realize your project is over budget and behind schedule. Because your project's been in your hands for a lot of years.

And you're finally figuring out now nagging doesn't work. And all you do is read your Bible, you would have found out before you got married, when you get married, don't bother nagging your husband. It's not going to work. Your Bible said, there's a verse in the book of Proverbs that said a nagging wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day. Your husband wants to say amen, but he's scared.

So your project in your hands is pretty pitiful. Men have the same problem. They marry with false assumptions. Most men marry thinking their wife won't change. They don't know that this is a woman on a mission. And when you're dating her and she has checked you out and decided you're an acceptable project, she then says, "Okay, we got to make this a deal, close this deal."

And so she dates you in such a way as to close this deal. And she gives you all the time you need. She has learned a little bit, hopefully, about the male ego. Some of y'all haven't learned enough. You need some courses to know that men really, really thrive on that attention and that affection and all of that. And so some of you have learned enough of that and you gave him enough time and attention and you called him during the middle of the day.

Some of us married before the days of texting. Now these modern women can text you in the middle of the day, "Just thinking about you, boo," and all that stuff. And you walked back in the meeting all smug. You tell your boy sitting next to you, "That's my girl, man. She's jacking me all the time." And you thought that was going to be life for the rest of life.

But you discovered that you had a misunderstanding. She had some other elements of life that she was going to move onto. "Okay, now that I got the husband, we got to settle in and get the marriage and get our lives." And she started nesting and she started focusing her attention on other things. "Now I want to start my family." And so you got enough attention to get that family started and what have you.

And now, next thing you know, you are coming home and all that little special attention you used to get is going to some little kid who doesn't even have a job. And you're standing there wondering what happened. Nothing happened. You just had the wrong thing in your head. You thought you were going to be the center of her universe forever. And hopefully, she'll keep you in her universe.

But you were in for a rude awakening. And so your project in your hands isn't working too well. And those kids that I just talked about, what happens when they grow up and start going through their seasons? See, that little cooing stage, that's as good as it gets. That little laying there on the lap and all they can do is just grin with slobber coming out all their mouth?

And you love that. You think that's it. Oh man, this is cool. And you stand there and you kiss that little wet mouth and you just feel and you just play and cool just because they can't say anything back to you. But give them a couple of years. Let that sin start developing in them. Oh, I'm serious. I know y'all hate it. I always get people upset whenever I talk about kids being sinners.

Bible says we are born in sin, shapen in iniquity. You didn't become a sinner at 12, 14, 17. You started sinning as soon as you got a chance. And just let that sin start developing. We're sinners first by nature and then by nurture. You already have the sin nature in you when you show up on the planet. You're separated, alienated from God. You're self-centered and self-focused.

And all you need is a little bit of time to begin to work that out. All you need is a little bit of time to learn the word "no." Come on. And as soon as they know it, they work that word. And so they start showing you that there's a heart of self-centeredness and self-focus and I got my own mind, I want to do what I want to do.

I know you told me I can't eat the cookie, but I want the cookie. I was just wait for you to leave the house, I'm going to eat that cookie. Now I'm not smart enough, I'm not old enough to be smart enough to sin in an intelligent, smart way. So you come back and I'm standing there, the cookie crumbs on the side of my mouth.

And you say, "Did you eat that cookie?" "Uh-uh. Uh-uh, I didn't even know we had cookies." And they grow up and begin to go through the stages and sin develops and becomes sophisticated in their hearts and their lives, in their actions, in their words. Suddenly you got a challenge on your hands. And they hit the tween age years.

Not quite teenagers, but getting a little self-aware and got their own attitudes and ideas about what they want to happen. Then they go from tweens to teens and they go through the various changes. And you got a problem on your hands. Well, I'm here to tell you that Jesus did what he did not only to bless those people, but he did what he did to bless those disciples who would teach the word and who would pass the word down through the generations.

And even to this present day, Jesus did what he did on that day to let you know that your situation, your resources, your challenge in your hand is pretty pitiful. But if you'll put it in his hands. You got to understand the kingdom doesn't work the way we work. The kingdom has different laws. First law of nature is self-preservation.

First law of the kingdom is self-denial. First law of the kingdom is not to hold on, hoard, "it's mine." "No, you can't have my fish sandwiches. Not my problem y'all didn't bring anything out here to eat. Y'all knew we had to walk a long way, find out where this boat was going, then we're going to stand here and try to talk to him. You knew it was going to have some time. You had time to get a brown bag, you had time to get yourself some food."

See, that's the flesh. Oh, we might as well admit the way we are in the flesh. You just want to throw off and deflect so you can have your way and get what you want. "This is my lunch." Jesus said, "No, it's my lunch. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein." Everything about your life belongs to me.

But God being so wonderful, although you belong to him, he doesn't make you surrender to him. He waits to see who will offer. That's what Romans 12:1 says. Romans 12:1 says, "I beseech you, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as living sacrifices." I beseech you that you give me. I don't want to take your life. I don't want to yank from you. I'm looking for somebody who says, "I want to give."

First law of serving Christ is self-denial. I will surrender what I have, my thoughts, my feelings, my desires, my will, my resources. I will surrender them into the hands of a God who can use them to make a difference, not only in the lives of many, many others, but who will then also use them to make a difference in my life.

One of the things you learn about following Jesus is when you surrender to him what you can't adequately deal with anyway, you discover that self-denial doesn't lead to self-destruction. See, that's what the enemy whispers in your ear. He tells you you can't give that area of your life to the Lord. He will discard you and your needs and your desires. God will leave you hanging.

You can't afford to do what God said. See, he's been lying like that since the beginning. He told Eve, "No, God said you'll die? No, no, you won't die. You'll become like him, and he's intimidated. He doesn't want you to become like him." The enemy always twists reality and he tells you when God says, "What's that in your hands? Are you willing to give that to me and see what I have ordained it to do?"

It's only when we say, "Yes, Lord, I present this as a living sacrifice," that we discover that when you deny yourself, God then takes that. In fact, Romans 12 says, "I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."

A lot of people don't understand what that meant in 17th-century English, but when you get more modern translations, they help you understand the Greek meaning there. It says, "I urge you, brothers, because of God's mercy, present yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual act of worship."

Your spiritual act of worship. When you worship God through surrender. When you worship God by saying, "Now here's what I want to do, but if that's not your will, I yield to what you want to do. Here's how I want to use this, but if that's not your will, I yield it to how you want to use it. Here's what I've planned for my life, but if that's not your will, I yield to what you've planned for my life." What you discover is that when you yield to God, it doesn't result in you losing. Because Jesus said in another place, "He who loses his life will find it." When you surrender, it opens the door to miracles.

Guest (Male): We're so glad you stopped by for today's Destined for Victory message, "If It Ain't Broke, Break It!". 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's pastorpaul.net.

Paul Sheppard: I want to expose the lie that the enemy is whispering in your ear, which says if you surrender your life to the Lord, you're going to be left with nothing. But the fact of the matter is when you surrender to the Lord, you open yourself to everything that God wants to do.

Guest (Male): And that's next time in our message, "If It Ain't Broke, Break It!". I hope you'll join us, but until then, remember: He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.