Destined for Victory

Guest (Male): As you live your life by principles, you're going to be questioned because people aren't accustomed to living by principles. Living efficiently is doing things quickly and conveniently, but living effective means doing things right. Sometimes to do things right, you're going to stand out. When you're sold out for God, you'll stand out to everyone.

Paul Sheppard: Hello and welcome to another great day here on Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard. Mordecai lived his life by principle and, as a result, he stood out in the crowd. He refused to waver in his convictions, and what followed is a beautiful story of faith and favor that should give you the courage to face life's trials with full confidence in God.

As you follow along today, remember people may sometimes plot against you, but God is the author of your story, so He is the only plot that matters. Online you'll find us at pastorpaul.net. Listen there on demand at pastorpaul.net, or you can subscribe to the podcast at Apple, at Spotify, or wherever you enjoy your podcasts. Now here's today's Destined for Victory message, "When Conceit Meets Conviction".

Guest (Male): The king was that kind of insecure person. He had to keep proving what he wished were true, throwing these elaborate parties and banquets and trying to be somebody special. Now, how did Haman get to slide in on the king's insecurity? You know how you get in with insecure people? You flatter them.

Now we're not told specifically what happened, but just in human psychology, you can easily see what happened. Haman had to have been a man who was able to, today folk would just say, suck up, who could have just flattered him and just make the king feel so special and so, "Oh, you are the best. You are the brightest. There's never been a king in all of Babylon, forget Persia, way back when it was Babylon, none of them were like you. Nebuchadnezzar couldn't light a candle to you. You are the man."

I can easily believe that it was that kind of excessive flattery that impressed the king to the point where he would give such a small man, such a small-minded man, a great position. You can see, by seeing Haman's actions throughout this book, you can see he was a petty man. Have you ever met a petty person? Just a little in terms of character and development, they're just small-minded and petty and foolish and stupid and full of themselves for no reason, wrapped up in themselves and don't know they're a very small package.

If you're going to be wrapped up in yourself, at least have something to be wrapped up in. Here's a man full of himself for no reason at all. But I can easily believe he has just flattered the king and positioned himself with this insecure leader. So look at the dynamics. You've got a king who wants to show off. He is basically insecure. Then he's got a man around him who is constantly building him up.

And so he can use his show-off instinct to promote this guy because if I promote him, then that still comes back to my credit. So I'm going to lift him up and that's just another way of showing off. It's like people who, when they get a hold of money, they go do stupid things to show off with it. Instead of saying, "Lord, thank you for this money. Now let me do the right thing. Let me put some of this aside. Let me pay some necessary things off. Let me get myself straight."

No, they want to go out and "I'm paying for everybody." If they're at a bar, "Drinks for everybody." Y'all don't drink, but I'm just saying. You ever met somebody like that? Just drinks for everybody, and their wife or their kids or whoever knows their real deal and what they really need to be doing with that money stands there saying, "Have you lost your mind? Talking about drinks for everybody and this bill is gone late and this one, and they're about to cut off PG&E?"

Just stupid, just petty, just small-minded. That's the kind of person you're looking at when you're looking at Haman. Suddenly he is promoted for no good reason. You know it's no good reason because the king had to command folk to give him honor. When you are honorable, nobody has to be commanded to honor you.

King said, "Now everybody, alright now, when y'all see him coming, you's gots to bow." You don't have to say that to an honorable person. If Haman were a man of distinction in that kingdom, people would have automatically said, "Oh look at that, the king's now giving him a higher position," and they would have given him deference. That it had to be commanded tells me a lot about this brother.

He is no count, but the king commands that folk give him honor. So that sets this chapter up and what happens is everybody he walks by and everybody's bowing and scraping and going low, and Mordecai just stands right there. And you know it's funny about people, when they're bowing and scraping, they're always looking to see who's not bowing and scraping.

Have you noticed that about people? People won't just bow and do what they're going to do. They're looking at you while they're doing it. He ain't bowing. What's up with Mordecai? And so they start asking him, "You know the king commanded us to give honor?" And really it's not just honor, it's homage, which is conspicuous honor. And the king commanded them to conspicuously honor him.

And they see that Mordecai just standing there, and they start questioning him. Let me pause long enough to say, as you live your life by principle, you're going to be questioned because people aren't accustomed to living by principle. They're accustomed to living by convenience or just command. They just put their lives on autopilot. Just do what folk do.

Go where people go. Say what people say. Dress like people dress. Act like people act. Buy what people buy. You get the point? When you live your life by principle and say, "Well, no, I do what is right. I don't just seek to live efficiently, I seek to live effectively in the will of God." Living efficiently is doing things quickly and conveniently, but living effective means doing things right.

And sometimes to do things right, you're going to stand out. And Mordecai isn't trying to draw attention to himself. He just knows in his heart, "I cannot give honor to this dishonorable man," because what they're asking for is homage. They're asking for adoration. The king commanded that people would practically worship the man, that they would give adoration and they would just act like he is just the greatest.

And Mordecai is thinking, "No, the Lord's command tells me," see he's an Old Testament Jew, he's living according to the commandment given through Moses, and he's saying, "No, the Bible tells me that I should worship only the Lord my God and Him only should I serve." He's saying, "The Lord's telling me I can give honor to people." The commandments did not forbid honor. When you see the Jews, they were accustomed to giving honor to honorable people.

But here you have adoration being commanded to someone who is dishonorable. Both things were unsettling. Now you can honor somebody who is dishonorable if they're in a certain kind of office to a certain level. I believe, let me just walk you through this since we are believers, followers of Christ seeking to live our lives right, you ought to give honor to a president no matter which party they're in or whether you voted for them or not.

It's the right thing to do. I honor the office even if I'm not crazy about the person. I honor the office. Have you ever watched like the West Wing and those kinds of shows? When the president walks by, the staffers get up. They're sitting there working, but if the president's walking through my room, they stop and get up and when he passes then they go back to work.

That's just giving a kind of deference that makes sense in our system. It's not worship, it's not adoration, but it's a respect thing. Now it takes discipline to do it when you don't like the dude. Let's just get this straight. And see, the Bible will help you not only live for Christ, but it'll help you navigate this world better. You got to learn that because you're going to have bosses sometimes you don't like.

Guess what? They're still the boss. Notice that nobody asked you how you felt about them being the boss. If you want that job, I suggest you give appropriate honor and respect. You can't show off and show out just because you don't like them. You can disagree with their lifestyle. You can say, "I couldn't live that. That's not God's will for my life. I disagree with your lifestyle. I disagree with the way you live, with the decisions you make."

But if you're my boss, I give you appropriate honor. That's just right. So go to work tomorrow and do better than you've been doing. I just blessed somebody's job, they don't know it, but I just blessed their job. You're going to come in there with a better disposition, and they're going to wonder what happened to you because you sat under the word and said, "Alright Lord, I'll do it Your way." Because listen, because the Lord sees that, and the Lord who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Paul Sheppard: Don't go away. The rest of today's Destined for Victory message featuring Pastor Paul Sheppard is coming right up. In John 14:6, Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Our mission here at Destined for Victory is to share that timeless truth, Jesus himself, so that as many people as possible can be saved.

You can help keep these messages coming your way by sending a generous gift today. Visit our website pastorpaul.net to make that safe and secure donation online. That's pastorpaul.net. Or call 855-339-5500. Now for more on the conflict between Mordecai and Haman, let's get you back to the rest of today's Destined for Victory message, "When Conceit Meets Conviction".

Guest (Male): So here's what's happening. Mordecai says, "I can't give this guy adoration." So he refuses. So what do they do? The folk who are bowing and scraping but want everybody else to be like them, when they can't talk Mordecai into being like them, then they go to Haman and say, "Ooh Haman, guess what? There's a man out at the gate, he wouldn't bow to you for nothing in the world. And get this, this is the kicker Haman, get this, he's a Jew."

You see what's happened? They're not content to just live unprincipled lives themselves, now they want to expose people living by principle. So Haman's enraged. And what does he do? At first he thinks, "Okay, maybe I should go get this guy in trouble by telling the king," see he knows how to work the king's ego, "telling the king he's disobeying you. He is not—it wouldn't be a big deal to me, but the people see him disobeying you."

The same kind of reasoning, remember, that they gave that got Vashti put out? See, you can't let folk just ignore your command. So it worked with Vashti, and he knew it could have worked with Mordecai. But look at the evil in Haman's heart. Haman thinks, "No, I don't want to just get Mordecai killed. Let me get all of them killed."

Do you know when you do research into Haman's background, you discover that he's an Amalekite? You say, "Well, what's the significance of that?" Back in Exodus chapter 17, you remember when the Amalekites came out against the children of Israel when they were in the wilderness? You remember that time, that period when Moses had to stand on the mountain and as long as his arms were raised, God's people were having victory?

And after a while, Aaron and Hur had to get up under his arms because he was tired, and they said, "Don't worry, we've got to get them arms up." So one got on one arm and one got on the other, and that's how God's people had the victory. Who were they fighting? They were fighting the Amalekites. And God says, toward the end of Exodus chapter 17, that "I will war against the Amalekites from generation to generation."

God himself declared war on them because they despised the things of Jehovah and the people of Jehovah. And this guy is one of those folks centuries later. He is one of those that God is warring against, and he's thinking, "I want to wipe out the whole nation." I've come to give you a sobering word. There are some people in your life, especially as they see you living for God and living principled lives, especially when they see you getting things right, getting your life in order, resolving your issues, dealing with the challenges you face, and getting your life lined up with God's will, they will despise you.

And I've come to let somebody know they will even try to take you out. If not physically, some will try to do it physically, but if not physically, they'll try to assassinate your good name. They'll try to assassinate your reputation among other people. They will try to ruin anything they can about your life. They will try to cut the legs out from under you. They will try anything they can to bring you down because they resent that you live for God and you stand for God.

But here is the word of hope I want you to leave here with. Even though you will find people with a very evil agenda as it pertains to you, you don't serve them, and they don't have the last word in your life. I've come to let somebody know, yes, you have very real enemies. They hate your guts. I know you don't like that. I know you say, "I don't believe I came out here for him to tell me how much folk hate me."

Yes, we're in Esther 3, that's the lesson. They hate you. Stop being in denial. They hate you. You don't even know how bad they hate you. You know a little bit. Truth is, they hate you more than that. But here's the good news. Oh well. Oh well.

Haman is mad. He wants all the Jews dead. So what happens? He goes to the king and gets a decree, gets the king to sign off on an irreversible decision, what is customarily irreversible for them, to have all of the Jews killed in a single moment of genocide, a single day of genocide, a single period of genocide. In all of the province in his kingdom, he wants them all destroyed.

Haman wants it and the king, who is too weak to think for himself and to realize, "You know, I promoted a no-count man and now he's trying to do wicked things," no, the king just said, "Okay." Listen, people can have a very wrong agenda where it pertains to you. Here's what you got to know. My role is to live for God, make right decisions, keep my heart pure.

Now listen, don't be stupid. That doesn't mean that you just make yourself completely available. When folk show you they don't like you, believe them. Believe them. Don't be this kind of plastic Christian where you think you got to be up in everybody's face and be available to everybody and what have you. No, when they prove themselves unworthy of your trust, when they prove they don't have your best interest at heart, when they prove that you can't turn your back on them, then back out looking at them the whole time. No sign of following the Lord that you just—"I'm going to let God have my back."

Sure you let God have your back, but you ought to have your own back too. I'm trusting God to do what I can't do, but I don't have to trust him if I can't trust you. I'm going to watch you all the way out. I'm not inviting you over. You say, "But what about the scripture that says, 'If your enemy hunger, feed him'?" Send the food. I'm trying to help somebody. I'm trying to help somebody. I've had to learn to do that.

Send it. I would under normal circumstances, I would feed you at my table. But now that I know you're an enemy, now that I know you're distrustful, now that I know you lack character, now that I know you have a personal agenda that's evil, I'm not going to bring you into my house and sit you down at my table. I can feed you from afar. Call up Pizza Hut, "Would you give them a—send it over to 37."

So listen, Haman is out to destroy a whole nation of people over his bruised ego. Sometimes it's just that simple when humans are elevating. Sometimes it's not complicated. Their feelings are hurt. They have a little personal agenda that you won't cooperate, and they will destroy a whole nation over stupid stuff.

So what you have to do is realize, fortunately, although they can bring real trouble into my arena, they don't get to write my story. So they can usher in the trouble. If God lets them usher in the trouble, the trouble will come. I'm preaching this because some of us are in trouble right now, and you're trying to figure out who to assign it to. You don't have to assign it to God.

There are wicked people. We live in a wicked world. We live in an ungodly world. We live in a place where things are not always right. They are not often right. We live among people who will make horribly unjust decisions. We are subject to a legal system that can be horribly unfair. All of us know there are a whole bunch of innocent folk in jail and a whole bunch of guilty folk walking around.

God didn't do that. Unjust people did that. Whole lot of people know, on your job, there are people who have about 1/3 your intelligence, but they are two or three pay grades over you. You know that's not right, but it's the way of the world. You know what you have to say? "Lord, they're not right, but You are in control. And ultimately, whatever You have to do to bring about Your purpose in my life and in this world, I'm trusting You."

And folk, if we'll just trust God. Next week I'll get into what happened. See, I'm leaving it just like a soap opera, leave it hanging right there. "I—well what happened? He done put out the decree and they supposed to kill all the Jews in one day. What happened?" Tune in tomorrow. You got to come back to church. That's right.

But know that God is in control. We live in an unjust world. People are shady and shaky and wicked. Not all of them are un-Christian. Just because somebody say they saved don't mean that they are not unjust. So whether you got saved relatives or unsaved ones, whether you got saved folk on your job or unsaved ones, whatever the situation, you judge them by their character, not by their label. But you know no matter what, God is in control, and He's going to accomplish His purpose in my life.

Paul Sheppard: You know, even when you're facing the worst trials and crises of your life, the victory has already been won for you through the person and work of Jesus Christ. You will see the walls of Jericho come crashing down because in Christ, you are destined for victory. If you haven't already downloaded our free mobile app, now's a great time to do it. Search "Destined for Victory" in the App Store and listen to these messages wherever you go. That's the Destined for Victory mobile app. Download it today, absolutely free.

Well, I'm sure you have someone in your life, a friend, a coworker, a family member, and you've just never quite had the right words to say to them about the gospel. If so, you're going to love this month's Destined for Victory resource, "You Are So Loved". This booklet is a short, readable gospel presentation that doesn't feel like a tract, and it just might open a door you've been praying to have open for years. That's "You Are So Loved", our thank you gift today for your 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 safe and secure donation online. And you can also mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California, 94538.

Guest (Male): Resolve to make right decisions regardless of the consequences. Living by resolve, what that means is God is calling us to make up our mind in advance of any crisis or any fork in the road or any decision to be made, to know ahead of time, "If this happens, this will be my response."

And that's next time in our message, "Getting Heaven's Attention". I'm telling you ahead of time, if you can join us, you'll be glad you did. Until then though, remember He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.