Destined for Victory

Paul Sheppard: A prophet speaks the will and the word of God into the lives of others. I want to challenge you fathers and all parents to be prophetic in these days like never before. You need to be prophetic as you speak into the lives of your children. That is, you need to say to them and about them what God says to and about them.

Guest (Male): Fathers, you may not feel like a priest or a prophet, but when it comes to your children, God has called you to be both. Hello and welcome to Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard. If you are a father and if you’ve joined us today, I’m so glad you did because in just a few moments, Pastor Paul has some words of encouragement and some advice about what it means to do fatherhood God’s way.

Stay with us now to find out how you can be a priest and a prophet in your home. Before we get started though, let me remind you to stop by PastorPaul.net when you have some time. That’s where you can listen to any of our recent messages on demand, including today’s. That’s PastorPaul.net. Now let’s listen to Pastor Paul’s Destined for Victory message, Fatherhood by the Book.

Paul Sheppard: Today I want to wrap up the series I’ve entitled Fatherhood by the Book. While I’ve been dedicating my remarks especially to fathers and challenging especially dads, I have said that these principles can apply to all parents. Moms can certainly take their share of this and apply it in their own situation. I’ve asked and I thank all of you who are non-dads for hanging in through this series and tracking with us because all of us have dads in our sphere of influence.

Some of you are raising boys who are going to one day be fathers. You need to know this so you can teach these truths to them. You also need to be able to pray for and encourage the dads in your sphere of influence. So for these reasons, I’ve asked all of us to stay engaged here and I appreciate your doing so.

Now I want to pick up where we left off in the last message where we were beginning to offer challenges to fathers who want to live by the book, who want to be fathers according to the word of God. In the previous message we gave the first two challenges. One is to be present. I talked about the importance of a dad being present in the lives of his children.

The reality is, God did not call you a father simply by virtue of making you a sperm donor. God called you a father to be hands-on in the training and rearing of your children. And so we made the point that we are called to be present, to be a positive influence in our children’s lives.

Secondly, we talked about not only be present, but be a priest. That is, speak to God on behalf of your children. As I ended the last message, we talked about Job as an excellent example. Here was a man who lived before the days of the law given by Moses. Many scholars speculate that Job would have lived back closer to Abraham’s time.

Even without the law, he had a very keen sense that a God-fearing father is one who took up on behalf of his children in the face of God. He stood in the gap as it were and said, 'Lord, I want you to bless my children. If they’ve sinned, I want you to forgive them and restore them to right relationship with you.' In that way, Job served as an excellent role model for dads today who need to be priests. That is, who need to speak to God for your children.

Now let me pick it up with a third point. A third challenge for fathers who would be fathers by the book is to not only be present and to be a priest, but number three, to be a prophet. Now what do you mean by that? Well, a priest is one who speaks to God on behalf of others, but a prophet is one who speaks to others on behalf of God.

A prophet speaks the will and the word of God into the lives of others. I want to challenge you fathers and all parents to be prophetic in these days like never before. You need to be prophetic as you speak into the lives of your children. That is, you need to say to them and about them what God says to and about them.

You need to speak, you need to reinforce God’s eternal word to your children because they need to understand that the word of God speaks directly to the issues of their lives and they are to walk in the way of the Lord. Go with me, let me establish this by scripture. Go with me to Deuteronomy chapter six and let’s look at verses four through nine.

Beginning with verse four, it says this: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.'

Listen to what God said even back under the law to his people. He said, 'When I have called you with the responsibility of parenting, there are some things that go along with that. Number one, learn to honor me for yourself.' Dad, let me tell you something. If you are going to be a prophet and speak to your children about God, then that by necessity suggests you are going to know God for yourself.

I want to challenge dads, get to know God for yourself. Don’t put yourself in the position of trying to teach your children to honor and abide by the word of God when you’re not doing so in your own life. But I want to encourage you to know the Lord for yourself. Notice what he said here. He said before he gave the admonition about dealing with your children, he said, 'You’ve got to love the Lord with all of your heart, soul, and strength.'

Before you get to your kids, let’s look at your life in the will of God. I want to encourage you that if you want children who love God, they need to see a father who loves God. They need to know that dad is a God-fearing, God-honoring man. And so it begins with a challenge to you. Of course, that challenge reverberates throughout scripture.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul says, 'I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ.' You are not living the life God has called you to live until you have recognized and accepted the lordship of Jesus Christ. You’ve got to understand this now. God doesn’t give you an option. You don’t get saved if you feel like it. You get saved because he’s Lord.

The Bible says the day is coming when every knee will bow. That includes yours. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. So it’s not a question of whether you’re going to confess Jesus is Lord. The only question is when. You do it now and submit to him now, he’ll bless you and save you now. But if you wait, believe me my brother, you’re going to bow one day.

Even if in judgment, even if the Lord has come and judges you, you’re going to say Jesus is Lord. Therefore I challenge you. If you want to be a dad by the book, then you want to say yes to him now and honor him and worship him now. On the basis of your personal relationship, look at the instructions he gives.

He says, 'Then you want to impress God’s word on your children.' That’s what I mean when I say be prophetic. Speak God’s word into the lives of your children. You want to impress them. Notice the word used: impress them on your children. I don’t know when it happened. I do not understand when it happened, but somewhere in American life, in American culture, during the course of my lifetime—which is not that long. Pray for me, I’m in denial.

Not that long, but in the course of my lifetime, there was a shift in American culture. I grew up in the days when people understood some things were right, some things were wrong, and that there was a moral consensus to be heeded and respected. So much so that I grew up in the days when not only God-fearing parents took their children to church, but I remember in my neighborhood, there were adults who didn't go to church themselves, but they believed that it was important for their children to understand and receive spiritual and religious training.

I remember that there were people in my neighborhood, although those families weren’t households of faith, on Sunday morning when those of us who were being raised in a household of faith were on our way to Sunday school, so too were some of the children in the neighborhood where a dad would drive up, little kids would get out, and he’d drive off. He wasn’t coming to church, but he thought it was important that his children go to Sunday school.

Now some of us, we weren’t sent, we were taken. We were raised by parents who went to church. But they understood the value of impressing the things of God on their children. You’ve heard me say it before: I never in my life heard my parents ask me if I felt like going to church. I have no frame of reference for that. When I hear you all say it, I just don’t get it. I don’t understand.

I’ve seen Christian parents negotiating with children about church. I can’t relate. I’m wondering what’s the matter with you. I’ve seen these people negotiating—not you but somebody on your row—negotiating with your children. They’ll kind of feign complaining to me, 'Pastor, pray for me. Lord, I don’t know what to do with this child.' I’m not praying for the child, I’m praying for you!

Praying for your child? I’m praying for you! What’s the matter with you? You on some kind of crack or something? Negotiating with something laying up in your house all week long. I’ve got a question for you: Did you negotiate with them as to whether or not they felt like going to school? I have yet to hear somebody do that. 'Well, honey, what you think? You think you feel like possibly, maybe going out and going to school? You know, you might learn something if you go.'

No, no, you understand that that’s nonsense. You understand that that’s practically parental abuse if you were to give your children the option of being stupid. And I’m here to tell you that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Therefore, if you don’t think it’s negotiable as to whether or not they go to school, it certainly shouldn’t be negotiable as to whether or not they go to the house of God.

Both are important, but one lays the foundation for their lives. I was raised, I’m glad I was raised in a home where that wasn’t optional. Some of us were raised by parents who got up and said, 'You all got 45 minutes to be washed, dressed, and out of this house. I better not see anything that’s got the last name Sheppard in this house 45 minutes from now. If you still in here, you got a problem.'

And off to church we were going, Sunday school going. If you had a bad Sunday school teacher, oh well. And some of them were bad. Some of them were not anointed at all. Come on, some of you Sunday school children, some of them would work your last nerve. You sitting there as a child, you knew you could teach the lesson better than they could teach the lesson. But you had to sit there and put up with it for a solid hour on Sunday morning.

9:30 to 10:30, that’s what I grew up in. That was the Sunday school hour. Then there was a half-hour break, 10:30 to 11:00, because service was starting at 11:00. We poured out of our Sunday school classes, went around the corner to a store that the man was wise enough to open the store on Sunday morning. Here we were in a black neighborhood in Philly, but this Asian man had a little corner store and he heard about the black church being open.

My man was no fool, he opened up that store and the Sunday school poured in. We’d go around the corner and pour into that store, groups at a time, about 12 or 15 of us at a time going in, looking in the thing, getting Charms and Life Savers and give me some of those Sweet Tarts over there. We’d stuff our pockets, but you had to put them in the right places because when we got back to church, we were going to try to sneak and eat our snacks.

But you had to do it carefully when I was growing up. You couldn't just whip out the Sweet Tarts and go to eating. You couldn't just do that. You had to plot and plan and you had to put it just right. We would use those pockets in our jacket vest and everything, get it situated just right where while the saints were singing, you’d slip in and get one. Listen, that’s how we rolled.

I know today people just bring whole bags, lunches. It’s a whole different ball game now. Folks just come in with a cooler, just everything. 'What you all want? Pass it down the row.' I grew up in church, you weren’t supposed to eat in church. You weren’t supposed to chew gum in church. We had to do everything carefully, praying that we wouldn't be caught.

We had to sit through the service, the entire service. I’m talking about, you all got it made now. Students and kids now have it made. You’ve got children’s church simultaneous with the adult worship. I think that’s a wonderful evolution. But listen, I grew up in the days before folks got that revelation. We grew up in the days where church was sitting in the sanctuary on hard pews for a long service.

Talking about a little short time-conscious? You all got it made. I’m trying to move things along and get things done in here, man. The saints had church until they were done. You’d be like, 'When is she going to stop shouting?' Had church until they were done, long service. You had to sit there. There wasn’t even children’s church simultaneous with the service, no youth ministry simultaneous.

I think those are wonderful developments. Now you go check out our children’s rooms and all that, they have all this specialized stuff. Man, it’s wonderful. You go up in the youth, they’ve got these screens and everything, multimedia service. But they’re learning the word of God on their own level. I think that’s a wonderful thing. And so you all got it made in the shade, drinking lemonade now.

When we were coming up, you weren’t going to some separate room. You were going to be in that sanctuary. And they did not want to hear you either. I’m telling you, those are the days where your parents didn't even have to make you sit with them because there was community policing in the church. Community policing in the church. You didn't have to sit next to your mama after a while because anybody near you could handle you.

Some of you know what I’m talking about. You’d be talking a little too loud, you’d feel a pluck from somebody you didn't even know. Some adult near you pluck you right upside your head. I know that’s abuse now, I understand. I know, I read all the books and everything. That’s abuse and you’ve psychologically damaged the development of the child by plucking them in the head. I know.

The saints didn't care anything about you and your books. If you were near them and cutting up too much, they’d pluck you in your head and say, 'Stop that. You ought to know better than that. Don’t make your mother have to look across the church at you.' She’s sitting over there worshipping the Lord in spirit and in truth. Sometimes we’d be monkeying around, playing around.

And you would feel—some of you know what I’m talking about. You’re monkeying around, you’re playing a little too much with your friends. Suddenly it would come over you, a feeling. Or if the feeling didn't come, one of your friends would look up first, 'Your mama looking, your mama looking!' And you’d look up and see she was giving you this look.

She didn't have to say a word. That look said everything you needed to know. That look said if you make me get up from here and come over there to where you are, you will not want to be there when I get there. That community policing? If you got up, went to the bathroom trying to get a little intermission in the service, they had a way of calculating approximately how long ought you be out of the sanctuary.

And your parents didn't have to do it. Any adult could do it. They would just have a way of singing and counting at the same time. And they would calculate approximately how much time it would take you to handle your business. And if you were in there a little too long, somebody would get up, come in there. 'What you kids doing in here? Get back in that service.' And that’s the way it was.

Jack, you all got it made. But listen, if you’re in my house, it’s a household of faith. You’re a captive audience. I’m sorry, you were born into the wrong family. You’re a captive audience in here. You’ve got to understand something. Lincoln freed the slaves, he didn't free the children. Just the slaves, that’s it. Children are captive audiences.

That’s the way we were raised. It’s a household of faith, you go to church in this house. Now they understood they couldn't make you get saved, but they were going to put you in a position where you learn the word of God. And they understood you can’t make somebody get saved. That’s the Lord dealing with their heart.

But they were going to make it hard for you to not get saved by simply doing what they were called to do, which is to speak prophetically into your life and to make sure that you’re raised in the things of God. Be present, be a priest, be a prophet. Number four, prepare your children. Prepare your children. Proverbs 22:6 among many other scriptures lets you know that the calling of a dad, the calling of a parent is to prepare his or her children for life.

Proverbs 22:6 says train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it. You’ve got to understand that part of your calling, dad, is to prepare your children for their future. Now this training is to cover every important area of their lives. It is not to just be a spiritual training. That’s the foundation.

But upon that foundation, you are then to build and help them understand how the precepts and principles of the word apply to every area of their lives. So you have to prepare them in every way. Prepare them for building good relationships. And I’m talking about at every season in their lives. Start very young preparing them. You’ve got to help your children navigate through life.

Guest (Male): Thanks so much for being here with us for our message Fatherhood by the Book. We also want to wish all you fathers out there a happy Father’s Day. May the Lord strengthen you as you seek to lead your homes. You know, the last thing Jesus told us to do was to go out and make disciples of all nations. To get that job done, it takes all of us working together.

So right now during the busy summer months when donations to the ministry tend to decline, we’re asking all of our listening friends and partners to prayerfully consider making a generous donation to Destined for Victory. When you do, we’ve got a very special thank-you gift to share with you. For the first time ever, Let My People Smile is available in video format.

Let My People Smile has long been a huge favorite among our listening friends and partners, featuring Pastor Paul’s unique blend of humor and biblical wisdom. But now you can watch these great teaching clips as well. That’s Let My People Smile, available on DVD or as a streaming link, and it’s yours this month for your most generous gift of $25 or more to Destined for Victory.

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Paul Sheppard: Just because you have knowledge doesn't mean you have wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to know what to do with the things you’re learning. All of us know people who have knowledge and no wisdom. All of us know people who are gaining data but they live their lives in ways that make no sense. So there’s a difference between knowledge and wisdom, and you need to be a person who is growing not only in knowledge, but growing in wisdom, the ability to apply it appropriately.

Guest (Male): That’s next time in our message Fatherhood by the Book. But until then remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.