Press the Battle On!

Hello and thanks for stopping by for this Friday edition of Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd, Senior Pastor at Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California. In just a few moments, he'll share his message, Press the Battle On, but first Pastor Paul joins me from his studio in California to talk about a special thank you gift he wants to share with you, our Destined for Victory listeners. And Pastor, I don't need to tell you that the holiday season is here, and although this year will certainly be a bit different than others, there will be plenty of things that will be vying for attention this year. This is always a very important time for ministries like Destined for Victory, especially this year with all that we've experienced. Now we have a great thank you gift though for all those who can make their very best gift this month. It's a great and I think timely message from you on DVD.

It's called Refocus. So tell me about this. Until recently, I was going to present a very different message for our year end gift, and it was going to be a good one. But as the year began to wrap up, I was experiencing some things and I went to the Lord and said, Lord, I need you to help me get my focus back in order.

And as I processed and prayed and the Holy Spirit spoke to me, I ended up thinking, you know what, this isn't just for my benefit. I need to share this with my audience. And as a result, I have recently decided to change that message. And I'm presenting the message entitled Refocus that is going to help people work through the challenges that have been born out of this pandemic and some of the frustrations we've all experienced.

And I'm giving three very practical steps as to how we need to address these matters. You know, I'm learning in my life these days that emotional health is every bit as important as physical and spiritual health. And so this message is going to help, I think, a lot of people. And I trust that donors this month will not only be a blessing to us through their generous gifts, but they will be blessed by hearing me unpack this theme and help us all get ourselves refocused as we look ahead to the year to come. That's a great reminder from Pastor Paul, I can't think of a better time for all of us to be thinking that way as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ and as we get ready for a brand new year. For your best gift to Destined for Victory today, we'd love to send you a copy of the message Refocus.

It's on DVD. Just request it when you make your most generous gift to Destined for Victory this month. Call us at 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-5500 to give over the phone. Or visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online.

Now, you can also mail your gift. Our address is Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California 94538. You've got to make sure you don't take no for an answer.

You've got to make sure you have a response. When foes come against you, when things rise up to try to prevent you from experiencing God's plan for your life, you need to be prepared to be so persistent that you're going to outlast and win over everything you face. On your way to your destiny in Christ, you will face opposition. And on today's Destined for Victory, you'll be reminded how to handle it. So now, here's Pastor Paul Shepherd with his message, Press the Battle On.

Well, praise the Lord. Let's get into the Word of God together as we continue our series. The overall series has been entitled, The Journey Toward Fulfillment. This is the fifth message in the series. And I want to focus on this particular part of the series with a title, Press the Battle On.

Press the Battle On. If you've been with us, you know that we're learning from the book of Joshua and from the experience of the Joshua generation, how to discover their own promised land and how to move into it. And while they discovered the promised land, they gave us a blueprint of how you and I can move into our own promised land.

Because remember, the things written in the scriptures aren't just so that we can have a history lesson about Israel. Things written afford time, Paul said to the church in Rome, were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. And so when we read the book of Joshua, we're supposed to say, Lord, help me to claim my promised land and to learn from their journey the things I need to know.

That's what we're doing right now. And so, so far, I've talked to you about the fact that this journey requires passion. We've talked about the fact that this journey requires a paradigm shift. You've got to shift your perspective, especially when people and important things leave your life. And you have to have precise focus.

That's what we talked about in the last message, precise focus. You have to know what God has given you to claim. Now I want to talk about a fourth requirement for you and I to move into the promises that God has given us.

The fourth requirement is this, jot it down if you're making notes. The journey toward fulfillment requires persistence. The journey toward fulfillment requires persistence. Turn with me to Joshua chapter one, verses five through nine. When I read this and preparing this sermon series, I've read the book of Joshua untold a number of times. But as I read it in preparing this particular sermon series, I noted that God was giving Joshua a kind of pep talk.

So look at what I mean by saying that. Look at Joshua one beginning at verse five. And let's listen in as God gives a pep talk to his servant Joshua.

Verse five. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life as I was with Moses. So I will be with you, Joshua. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage. For to this people you will divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left that you may prosper wherever you go. Verse eight. The book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.

For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid nor be dismayed. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Now, did you see what I saw when I read it this time? God is giving Joshua a kind of pep talk and I say that because he keeps telling him be strong and courageous. Be strong and have good courage. Be strong and courageous.

Why is that happening? It's because God knows that Joshua is about to experience something he's never experienced before. God wants him to know you're going to run into some things that you might not be familiar with, but I want you to know the key is for you to be strong and courageous and for you to forge ahead and not to be dismayed, not to be afraid. In fact, when I was reading it in preparation for this, the mental picture I had was a trainer with a boxer. So, a professional boxing match, maybe the most important match of the century is about to happen and the trainer of one of the boxers is in the corner with him and before the bell rings to start the boxing match, this is the kind of stuff the trainer does, all right, you can do this, you can do this and rubbing his gloves and getting him ready.

You can do this. You've well trained and prepared yourself for this and you're going to be all right. That's kind of what God is doing with Joshua. Now, here's what I want you to realize, that if God is doing that, it's because what he is going to face is very significant.

So, let me just make two points in this message and I want you to note these. Here's point one of this particular passage, standing between you and fulfillment will be foes you must face and defeat. Now, in terms of your life and mine, we're not talking about the literal promised land that these folks had to deal with, but as you move into God's promises for your life, I'm here to let you know the things standing between you and fulfillment are as important for you to have the right perspective on as it was for Joshua to know what God just told him here.

Now, I want you to think about this with me. Anytime somebody who's in your corner keeps telling you to be strong, to be courageous, don't be afraid, don't be dismayed, if you keep hearing somebody tell you, because God didn't just say it once, he said it three times just in those verses, be strong, be courageous, and once he says, don't be terrified, don't be dismayed, if somebody keeps telling you, don't worry about it, you're going to be all right, just be strong, just be courageous, don't you know what that means? That means you are going to run into some stuff that will scare the living daylights out of you.

That's exactly what that means. If anybody were to tell me, all right, Pastor Paul, now what you're about to go through, you can make it, you just need to be strong, then I want to know, well, what in the world is going to happen? Watch this, especially when the person giving you the pep talk is not just one of your friends, it's God himself. Anytime God is the one talking about, all right, now, don't be scared, like some of you all said, don't be scared, if God is the one saying, don't be scared, do you know what that means?

That means what you're going to run into would otherwise scare you nearly to death. Now, I'm saying that because we are really serious about claiming what God has for our lives and using this as a point of reference and a case study. So I want to propose to you that God has great things in store for you as you claim his promises in your life, but as I propose that, I've already talked about some of the other requirements, but this one is so important, this requirement of you being persistent. We'll be right back with more of today's Destined for Victory message from Pastor Paul Shepherd. Remember, you can always listen to this program on demand at pastorpaul.net.

That's pastorpaul.net, where you'll find links to all of his social media, including his YouTube channel, a place to watch Pastor Paul's most popular video clips. Right now, let's get back into today's message, Press the Battle On. Here once again is Pastor Paul Shepherd. You've got to be pushy. You've got to make sure you don't take no for an answer.

You've got to make sure you have a response. When foes come against you, when things rise up to try to prevent you from experiencing God's plan for your life, you need to be prepared to be so persistent that you're going to outlast and win over everything you face. So, my brothers and sisters, I want you to realize that foes are coming. Do not ask to be a victorious person if you expect to never have a fight. When you think about it, you can't be victorious if you had no contest. Nobody is a, well, you know, I'm undefeated as a fighter or I'm undefeated as an athlete.

Is that right? Well, how many opponents have you faced? What's your record? Oh, I'm 0-0. If you're 0-0, no need to say you're undefeated because you're unchallenged.

You haven't experienced anything. You haven't had an opponent stand in front of you. The only way to say I'm a victor is I've had a challenge and I faced it and I overcame it. I'm a victor because the enemy stood between me and victory and I defeated that enemy. So, my brothers, my sisters, as you prepare to move forward in the rest of your life and claiming God's promises for your life, I've come to tell you, expect that foes are going to stand between you and your goal.

Don't be surprised, oh, I didn't know it was going to be this hard. That's why the Lord gave me this message to tell you it's going to get hard sometimes. Whether you're fighting for your family's welfare, whether you're fighting for success in your career, whether you're fighting for any level of claiming the promises of God, your financial life, God's taken you to a higher plane in terms of your finances or in terms of any of the seven pillars of your life. I talk a lot about the seven pillars, but whatever area you are focusing on and you're claiming promises in, know that between where you are right now and where God wants to take you in that area of your life, you are going to experience all kinds of challenges. When you tell me I believe God is going to make me well off financially because he wants to make me a blessing to the kingdom of God and I'm expecting God to bless me tremendously with finances, that's wonderful.

I can stand in agreement with you as long as you know that between where you are and where you're going, you're going to have all kinds of unexpected stuff to pop up and try to knock you off that course. Whatever area we're talking about in your life, God is going to give you victory, but you must be persistent. If there's no fall, there is no victory. If there's no challenge, there can be no winning. So you have got to see that God is going to give you a blessing of victory, but by virtue of the very definition to have victory, I've got to face and defeat an opponent of some sort or another.

And let me help you with this. Sometimes the opponents are not external. Sometimes the opponents are internal. I don't know if you've experienced it yet in your life.

If you haven't, my grandmother would have told you just keep on living. Fact of the matter is you live long enough and you're going to face foes not only from without, you're going to face foes within. You're going to face foes that make you talk to yourself. You're going to have some stuff go on inside of you.

Maybe it'll be your emotional response to some of the things that come against you. Whatever it is, you can know that you'll have various types of foes that you must rise up and defeat. Do not expect an easy victory. Do not expect a cakewalk.

Think of it this way. God has brought you so far, you are like a top-ranked boxer. And the top-ranked boxers didn't get there because everybody was easy to defeat. As they moved up the ranks, they found a little more challenge and a little more challenge. And finally, you really paid your dues because to get to be the champion or the number one rated opponent, you had to face a whole lot of foes and overcome them. And so I want to tell you, now that you are where you are in your life, now that you're believing God for some great things, expect that your opponents are going to be more fierce than they've ever been. They're going to be more cocky than they've ever been.

They're going to be arrogant. They are going to tell you, you will not defeat me. And you are going to have to practice and demonstrate persistence.

Passion was good, and precise focus was important, and a paradigm shift was necessary. But let me tell you right now, what you've got to know is you must be persistent as you move from where you are to where God wants to take you in every area of your life. So this point, number one in this message is standing between you and fulfillment will be foes you must face and defeat.

Don't ever forget that. Take that knowledge with you into the rest of your life so that when you run up against an internal or an external opponent, you will say, that's right, this is what Pastor Paul was talking about, and I have to be persistent and fight through this challenge. You've heard me preach that message I preached about my friend who ran the Boston Marathon the first time he didn't complete it, the second time he did, and he learned what the runners call how to break through the wall when they hit the wall when you feel like, I can't move on, I cannot finish the race. He was told in advance, you're going to hit the wall a couple of times during the course of the race. Be prepared and I'm going to help you, and you've heard me tell the story of the persons who gave him a banana at just at the points in his race when he felt like I can't go farther, there was someone stationed to help him push through the wall. My brother, my sister, you're going to have various walls that come up against you as you claim your promised land. So don't expect it's going to be just a fun experience from start to finish. There are going to be moments when you don't get it.

You've heard me say it a lot. I'll never forget when the Lord told me thousands were going to be part of the ministry. He was going to help me raise up when I got to California. For seven years, I went from the 34 people who called me to be their pastor. Seven years later, we had 250 people. The Lord had told me thousands were coming. I thought the thousands, at least a couple of thousand of them would show up in the first year or two. Here I was seven years into it, and I had 250 members.

And that's great growth by normal standards, but I was comparing it to a promise. My promised land, God said, in the promised land, there are thousands of people you're going to disciple. You're going to win them to the Lord. You're going to disciple them, thousands of them.

And seven years in, I got 250, 50 with a D. And let me tell you something. I was a discouraged brother. Some of y'all are going to face that type of discouragement.

And whatever you're going after is your promised land. You're going to have times where you say, I don't get it. I thought I heard from God.

I must have missed it. Maybe I'm just on a wild goose chase. Maybe this is just my ego telling me I could do this. I can't do this. Nobody in my family has ever done this. I don't have a personal relationship with anybody who's been successful in the way I believe I'm called to be successful. Whatever it is, even if your family, you know, nobody in my family has survived with a long-term marriage.

How am I thinking I'm going to make this? My spouse getting on my nerves. I might as well check out of this marriage just like everybody else in my family has checked out. I'm the only one still hanging in here.

Maybe I need to check out too. Whatever is going on to try to get you off the course of fulfillment, you've got to decide these foes were inevitable. But I don't have to cave in if I will be persistent. God is going to bless me to have the victory to break through the wall of opposition and to experience all that he has for me. And so I want to let you know that standing between you and fulfillment are going to be foes. You're going to have to face them. But by the help of the Lord, you can defeat them. As you press on toward your high calling in Christ Jesus, you will face opposition. At times, it will be intimidating. At times, fear may set in. But be encouraged today. With God on your side, you can be a little scared without being scared off. Thanks so much for joining us for this message, Press the Battle On. Don't forget this month's special offer, a DVD message from Pastor Paul entitled Refocus.

It's available for all who make their best year-end gift. More information at our website, pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net. I came to tell somebody, do not allow the way you feel now to dictate what you do. If you allow your feelings to dictate it, you are going to cave in.

You're going to check out. You're going to say, never mind God, I guess you'll have to do this for somebody else because I can't make it. That's Monday when Pastor Paul Shepherd shares his message, Press the Battle On. Until then, enjoy your weekend. And remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.