Destined for Victory

Paul Sheppard: God is going to get you and me where He wants us to be, no matter what it takes. And I’m here to tell you that you’re going to have to develop a new attitude about your detractors, about your enemies. You're going to have to understand that they work for God because you are called according to His purpose, and they work for God.

Guest (Male): God loves you so much He will use any means necessary to help you fulfill your purpose: circumstances, family, friends, even your enemies. Hello, and thanks for stopping by for today’s Destined for Victory, where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Sheppard.

Up next, an important message about your purpose in Christ and the methods God will use to direct your path. Along the way, you’ll gain a new perspective on your enemies and a new appreciation for the way God molds and shapes you into the image of Jesus.

Before we get started with today’s message, let me remind you to stop by PastorPaul.net when you get a chance. That’s where you can hear any recent Destined for Victory message on demand, including today’s. PastorPaul.net. Now, let’s listen closely to Pastor Paul’s Destined for Victory message, "Purpose Prevails."

Paul Sheppard: Proverbs 19:21: "There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the Lord’s counsel, that will stand." God bless you, you may be seated. Purpose prevails.

These are days when we talk a lot in the church about purpose. But very often when we talk about purpose these days, we’re talking about living a purpose-driven life or having a purpose-driven church. I’m blessed by those concepts. Rick Warren has been a wonderful mentor to so many pastors, has taught so many wonderful principles. I, too, have been blessed by The Purpose Driven Church book and The Purpose Driven Life book. I told someone once I’ve learned so much from Rick, I think I owe him money. But he has been a great blessing to the body of Christ across the world as he has lifted up for us that theme.

And often when we talk in the church about purpose, we’re talking about purpose from the standpoint of us lining our lives up with the purpose of God. That’s a very important thing to do. But I’ve come today to tell you that what we really need to understand is not just how to line up our lives with the purpose of God, but we need to understand that the foundation of our purposeful living is understanding how purposeful our God is. What I want you to leave here knowing is that God is up to something in your life not by accident, but on purpose.

I want you to know that God started something in you and in me, and what He says about it is, "I’m going to complete what I started." Philippians 1:6 says, "being confident of this very thing, He who began"—notice who got good things started in your life and mine. God started a wonderful work in us, and Paul said, "I’m confident that the God who got it started is going to bring it to completion."

I’ve come to tell you that the God we serve is not trying to do something in your life. He’s not, "Well, you know, I got something in mind and if things work out, you know, if I can get these ducks to line up, if I can work some things out, I’m going to do something with you." That’s not God, that’s your shaky uncle. God says about you, "I started it, and I finish everything I start."

Now you know as well as I do, we can make it interesting for God. But please understand, the God we serve is a sovereign God. He is a superior God, He is a supreme God, and there is no force in heaven, no force on earth, no force under the earth that can withstand the purpose of God. What that means is, whatever God started, He’s going to finish.

And we must learn how purposeful our God is because it will help us to live a life of praise and worship. When you finally realize who God is and who you are, praise and worship won’t be a struggle. Once you realize that God has said, "I’m going to get you where I’ve destined to get you, no matter what you try to do about it," you’ll learn that He is worthy of all of our praise.

Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that all things work together for good," not to everybody. See, you got to stay away from these sayings that are unbiblical. There are folk in the world who love to say, "Well, you know, everything works out for a reason. Everything happens for a reason." No, that’s not true. The Bible says God works all things together for good to them. There are some people who are not "the them."

Who are the them? The them are those who love God and are called according to His purpose. What God says is, "I’m going to work it all out cause I purposed it. I’m not working out things because you’d like me to. I’m working things out to establish my purpose in your life, and so I will work all things together for good, not to everybody. If you’re not loving God, if you’re not called according to His purpose, your life isn't working out for good, it’s just working. And in most cases, it’s not working."

But those of us who love God and are the called according to His purpose. Now understand, the call predated even your loving Him. That’s how wonderful our God is. God called you before you had sense enough to love Him. God’s call predates our decision. We love saying, "I decided to follow Jesus." I got news for you: before you decided to follow Jesus, He decided you would follow Him. And that’s why He sent His Son. Unless Jesus had come, you’d have had no decision to make.

We say things, I know what we mean: "I found the Lord." Well, I know what you mean, so I can put up with that. But let’s be technical for a minute. You didn’t find the Lord; He wasn't lost. He found you. He found me, cause we were lost. And when we were lost and undone without God and His Son, He reached down His hand for us.

God says, "I’ll work it all together for good." Then he goes on in the text and says, "For whom He foreknew, He also called." He knew you. He understood you ahead of time. When God made the promise to complete what He started in our lives, He knew what He was getting Himself into, cause He knew you and He knew me.

Please understand, you haven’t surprised God in your whole life. You’ve surprised yourself, you’ve surprised other people; you’ve never surprised God. God never was in heaven saying, "Say what? She did what? He did... and he a preacher?" We haven’t surprised God. He knew who we were, and He said, "I’m going to call you to be what I’ve called you to be, and the journey is going to take into account all things: things you do right, things you do wrong."

I don’t know about you, I couldn’t serve a God who needed me to be right all the time. I need a God who said, "I know how to take you from where you are to where I’ve destined you to be. I need an all-things God. I don’t need a just, 'If you do what I tell you to do, I can get you somewhere.' No, I need a God who understands, and some of you do too, that we have a way. His will is for us to take the direct route, but sometimes we take the scenic route. And God says, "I’m going to take all things and work them together because you love me and you’re called according to my purpose."

Guest (Male): Don't go away, the second half of today's Destined for Victory message is coming right up. But we want to thank all of you who support Destined for Victory with your prayers and financial support—gifts that help us keep this media ministry going. You've always been the lifeblood of the ministry, and we can't thank you enough.

If you'd like to join us at our mission to preach timeless truth for a victorious life, please consider making a safe and secure donation at our website, PastorPaul.net, or give us a call at 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-5500. If you want to be like Jesus, find a few like-minded people with whom you can share your successes and your failures. Realness and rawness often pave the way to renewal. Let's get you back to the rest of today's message, "Purpose Prevails."

Paul Sheppard: What shall we say then? "If God be for us, who can be against us?" That’s what I want to talk about in the first part of this series is the "who" factor. If God be for us, who can be against us? A lot of us are tripping on a lot of who's. A lot of us are upset because of people in our lives. We think what’s wrong with us is other people.

So I want to start the series by talking about your detractors, your enemies, the people who—your haters. "Who can be against us?" I want you to leave here understanding that your "who" ought to go from a capital W to a small w. You have given "who" entirely too much credit. You have given people entirely too much time and energy, and you’re talking about, "You’d be way down the road if it wasn't, if he hadn't done this, if she hadn't said that, if this had not happened, if these people didn't hate me, if I wasn't this color and discriminated against, if I wasn't this gender and had to run up against the ceiling, the glass ceiling." And all of that. I want you to leave here understanding: if God is for you, who?

In New Orleans they say, "Who dat?" Who dat? That’s what I want you to leave here saying. Who dat trying to work my nerve? Who dat trying to keep me from going where God wants me to go? Who dat talking about me every chance they get? Who dat blogging about me on the internet? Who dat? "Well, you know, so-and-so said such-and-such about you." Who dat? If God...

Listen, about detractors—detractors is just a word for enemies. About your enemies, you got them because God called you according to His purpose. You got to understand something about God. He has never allowed any person on earth to fulfill His purpose for their lives without haters. Nobody. So quit asking God to give you a hater-free experience. It’s not going to happen.

His Son didn’t get a hater-free experience, and if God wouldn’t let His boy—"Whom He, this is my beloved Son in whom I’m well pleased"—and He wouldn’t let him get away with not having haters, you don’t stand a chance. Stop asking God to get rid of your enemies. Fact of the matter is, you need your enemies. They play important roles in the purpose of God for your life. There are things you will not experience, there are places you won’t go, there are depths in God you’ll never arrive at until your enemies help you get there.

Your enemies come in all varieties because they serve all kind of purposes. Your enemies are not standard, are not off the rack; you have customized enemies. You can’t just go to the enemy store and get them off the rack. No, they are created in the image of what it is taking to get you from where you are to where God wants you to be. Customized enemies, cut to the specificity of your needs.

Sometimes your enemies live in town. Sometimes your enemies travel to get on your nerve. They’re from out of town; they go on Expedia and get a ticket to come mess with you. You don’t believe me? Ask Nehemiah. Sanballat and Tobiah came from out of town. Now, he’s minding his business trying to build the wall. Here they come. "What you doing?"

Oh, but you keep reading. First they just ridiculed. But after they saw the wall kept going up, then they got angry, began to plot to kill him. Said, "Come on, meet us over in the other town. We’re going to have a meeting." Nehemiah called down—by this time the wall's high—he called out and said, "Who dat? Read my lips: I’m not coming down."

Sometimes your enemies are complete strangers. You haven’t even met them. You ever run into folk who don’t like you and don’t even know you? You know, it would be nice sometimes if at least you understood why you hated me. You don’t even have a basis of knowledge. That doesn't stop some folk. Some folk just looked at you one day, and hatred rose up in their hearts. Oh, I’m telling you, sometimes folk don’t like you, and if you asked them why, they can’t even tell you. And they say things like, "I don’t know, just something about her. I don’t know, I can’t even... but something about that man."

Complete strangers do some of the work of enemies in your life. Other times it’s best friends. You ever had a former best friend flip the script on you? You ever been like David? "If it was somebody who I knew all along couldn’t stand me, I could have survived it." You need to understand sometimes your enemies are former friends. That’s why, in fact, the world has coined a term: frenemies. And sometimes in order for the purpose of God to be accomplished in your life and mine, God raises up frenemies.

God Himself says, "All right, I’m going to take that flipping of the script and work it together." Cause see, you know, if a stranger hates you, oh well. I mean, I never expected anything out of you in the first place. I don’t even know what's your name. But the person who’s been up in your house. The person who has spent your money. The person who has worn you out with their troubles and problems. The person who talked to you endlessly about what’s wrong with them, and you’ve been fixing them, and you’ve been helping them, you’ve been working on them like an old car.

And you get to a certain level in your destiny, and they flip the script. I came to tell you it’s part of God’s plan. Sometimes your detractors are unchurched people, just flat-out heathen. Other times they are Bible-toting, scripture-quoting... don’t even say fine when you ask them how they are: "Blessed." They don’t even use regular words. They have no bad confession in their mouth. You tell them you just saying something and they say, "Oh you serious? Oh you say I’m serious as a heart attack?" "No, no, don't say that! That's a wrong confession!"

Now, how you that spiritual and then hate me? Sometimes in order for a certain aspect of the purpose of God to be fulfilled in your life, your enemy has to be your own relative. Sometimes they have to come from your own household. Sometimes they wear your last name. I’m here to tell you something: God is going to get you and me where He wants us to be, no matter what it takes. And I’m here to tell you that you’re going to have to develop a new attitude about your detractors, about your enemies. You're going to have to understand that they work for God because you are called according to His purpose, and they work for God.

Guest (Male): Thanks so much for being here with us for today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard. I'm sure you know none of us can accomplish God's will for our lives on our own. It takes the help of other believers in Christ. I once asked Pastor Paul what he would say to you our listening friends and partners about the power of partnership, and here's what he said.

Paul Sheppard: I want them to know your partnership is very, very important and necessary. When you think about it, starting way back, I’m thinking about Moses: he could not have been Moses without the partners God gave him. God raised up Joshua. The Bible called Joshua Moses’ minister before it called him God’s minister. And Joshua was one of those key people. Aaron, his brother, was one of his key partners.

Every man or woman of God since then, all the way into, of course, when you get to the ministry of Jesus, Jesus Himself required partnership. Isn't that amazing that the God-man needed partners? He took Peter, James, and John farther into the Garden of Gethsemane and He said, "Just stay here and watch with me," and He cried and poured out His heart to get ready for that moment when He would lay down His life for us. And He needed that partnership. He had Peter, James, and John, He also had Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

Then when you look at the apostles, there is no Paul without Timothy, without Silas, without Barnabas, and on and on. All of us need partners. So the bottom line is, I’m so grateful for every man, woman, boy, and girl who has become a partner for our ministry so you can keep on providing this platform so that we can reach even more people for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): Pastor Paul always made it clear in his lifetime that he wanted Destined for Victory to continue after his preaching days were over. And today your partnership with us is more important than it's ever been. When you partner with us for as little as $20 a month, we'll send you a few thank you gifts, including one of our most popular CDs, "The Best of Let My People Smile." This is Pastor Paul at his absolute best. And two things we know for sure: you will learn and you will laugh, and we're not sure which you'll do more of.

Call 855-339-5500 to find out more about how to become a Destined for Victory partner. You can make your pledge right there over the phone. Or mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California 94538. You can also become our partner from our website, PastorPaul.net. If you can't become a partner but would like to send a generous gift to the ministry today, we'd love to send you our latest booklet, "Truth, Temper, and Treasure." For more information on this great new resource, please stop by PastorPaul.net.

Paul Sheppard: But the Lord comes into our lives not just to save us, He also comes into our lives to make us new creations, so that not only do we have an assurance for all eternity that we are children of God, but even here and now in this earth, God wants to change us from the inside out.

Guest (Male): That's next time in our message, "I've Got a New Attitude." But until then remember, He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.