The Danger of Being Misled

I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance. Nevertheless, I have this against you. You tolerate that woman Jezebel. By her teaching, she misleads my servants into sexual immorality.

I have given her time to repent, but she is unwilling. Hello and welcome to this Thursday edition of Destined for Victory. Always glad to have you with us. Well, that was Pastor Paul Sheppard reading from the book of Revelation, a portion of God's message to the church at Thyatira. This was a vibrant, growing body of believers and yet the enemy still gained inroads that threatened to cripple its members. Today, Pastor Paul talks in depth about this cautionary tale, one that reminds us that even the most faithful, committed Christians can be led astray. Stay with us now, but remember, you can stop by pastorpaul.net anytime to hear recent Destined for Victory messages on demand. That's pastorpaul.net. Let's join Pastor Paul now as he shares today's Destined for Victory message, the danger of being misled.

This message, I want to talk to you about the danger of being misled, the danger of being misled. As we come to this word, to the church in Thyatira, we see that the Lord introduces himself with some of the same language that we saw in chapter one as he showed John who he was. And we see that he has eyes like blazing fire and feet as bronze, just depicting in that picturesque language, the fact that the Lord sees all and that the Lord covers all ground. There is nothing hidden from him with whom we have to do.

And if they weren't convinced by the title, then when he gets into the message, they're really convinced that he knows what's going on. And I want to remind you, as we've looked at the other words to the churches, God knows what's going on not only in their church and in their lives, he knows what's going on in our churches and in our lives as well. And so he opens with, again, a word of commendation. It is wonderful that whenever the Lord could, he gave these churches something that he could affirm them about. And here he says, I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and I know that you're now doing more than you did at first. So he applauds them. He applauds them first for their love.

I don't want us to assume that just because they got applauded for their love that you and I can just kind of ride in on that. So let's take a moment and take a little personal inventory here and see what the Lord would have to say about these areas of our own lives. First of all, let's talk about love. How is your love life? No, no, no. Not your romantic love life. I know some of you say, I'm sure glad you're not asking about that. Because that's truly pitiful.

No, no. He's asking, how is your life of loving people? Remember the great commandment is, thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. And you shall love your neighbor, not your favorite neighbor. You shall love any old body in your sphere of influence as yourself.

So how's your love life? Your loving folk, not just your buddies, not just those, your road dogs, those that you hang with, those that you travel with, vacation with, those that you have your barbecues with, those that coming over Memorial Day. No, no.

Not that crew. How are you doing with people who have the gift of working your nerves? I don't think I have to tell you that there are some people who it looked like to you, I mean, they are almost anointed to get on your nerves.

You're trying to figure out how does this work? How could they know exactly what buttons to push? How can they know exactly what things to say? How can they know how to irritate me when I'm in a good mood? Got any folk like that in your sphere of influence? Got any of them like that on your job? Any of them like that in your community?

Any of them like that in your family? How is your love life is the question that we've got to embrace and engage with. How are you not only at loving folk you like, how are you at loving people who have actions and attitudes and idiosyncrasies and habits and all of that quirks and issues and challenges of various sorts? How are you at loving those folks? And the reason why this question comes is because we're told we are commanded to love everybody. You can't pick and choose the people you decide to love if you're going to follow the Lord. He said, if I love them, you love them. And we know that God so loved the world, not just the world of nice folks, not just the world of issue-free folks, if there are any, not just the world of cute people, not just the world when you play those little games, who would you love to spend an evening with? Not just the people on that list. How are you at loving people that if you had to spend an evening with them, you would have to go into prayer to prepare your heart and your mind?

Father, I stretch my hand to thee, no other help I know. Those are the people we're called to love, not just the folk that you like. You got to love people you dislike.

That was deep, wasn't it? You have to love people you dislike, meaning the dislike has to do with actions and attitudes and things, but loving the person is a quality that you have to get from God because he so loved them absent of what they do that is unlovable. And there are people you are called to love who are not very lovely. And we're called to love them anyway.

And the Bible is extremely practical. It tells us to love people through our actions, not just, you know, God heard a lot of people over the years, he's all right with me. She's all right, I mean, I mean, you know, she's all right.

I can tell by the way you're talking that there's some problem there. And so the question is, how are you in loving people? He commended them for their love with some of us that wouldn't be on the commendation list.

And we have some work to do. Then he commends them for their faith. Faith, of course, that character trait by which we are to live. The Bible says the just shall live by faith.

What does that mean? That means living by putting our trust in God day in and day out, living by taking God at his word, living by walking with him in faith and in obedience, the just shall live. It is the operating system of the child of God. We live by faith. It's the way we do life. We are called to do it trusting God. How are you in the area of trusting God?

With your life, with your day to day affairs. See, there are a lot of people who want to trust God with a nice little pile of things that you have pulled out of different areas of your life. And you want God to take care of those. And then you want God to stay out of the rest of it. No, no, that's not walking by faith.

Faith is I practice God's presence. I know he's in my life and he's not here as a bystander. He's here as Savior and Lord. See, some of us want the Savior, but we want a Burger King Christianity. We want, may I order the Savior, hold the Lord, please.

I know I'm ringing doorbells. Hold the Lord. I'm not interested in him being Lord. I'm not interested in him being in charge of my life and my day to day affairs. I don't want him in my relationship business. I don't want him in my finances. I don't want him when it comes to my career decisions.

I don't want him when it comes to deciding whether or not I can hate somebody or exact revenge on somebody. I don't want him in those areas, but I have a nice neat little pile of Jesus would just handle this. Doesn't work that way because he is Lord of all or he's not Lord at all. And we know he is Lord.

So you can't practice this partial customized Christianity, smorgasbord Christianity, where you pick and choose the elements you want. Stay with us. The second half of Pastor Paul Shepherd's message is coming right up, but first we want to thank all of you who support Destined for Victory with your prayers and financial support. Gifts that help Pastor Paul share the joy of the gospel message with a growing audience.

Today we find ourselves recovering from the pandemic and all the challenges of the past year and your support is more critical than ever. So please prayerfully consider making a gift to Destined for Victory today. Give online safely and securely from our website, pastorpaul.net or give us a call at 855-339-5500.

Again, that number is 855-339-5500. In Romans 1 verse 17, the apostle Paul writes, for in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith. For more on what genuine faith looks like, let's join Pastor Paul for the rest of today's message, the danger of being misled. Living by faith means I trust him every day with everything. I'm giving him my issues. I'm giving him my stuff.

I'm working through. If there are areas where I'm not totally surrendered, at least I'm engaged with him dealing with those issues. I'm not trying to pretend like he is not Lord.

I know that he is in charge of all things. And so I'm walking by faith. Faith means you put your complete trust in him. You got to understand that it's about trust. Faith isn't just some mental ascent. Yes, I believe such and such. Trust means I am fully committed.

I'm vested. Back in the 18th century, there was a man who made his reputation being a daredevil by walking across on a tightrope, walking from the New York side to the Canada side of Niagara Falls. And he did it several times and in several different ways. And he just built a great, great reputation.

He was known as the Great Blondin and built this great reputation. And on one occasion, he not only tightroped all the way across, but he took a wheelbarrow tightroping across Niagara Falls. He went over with an empty wheelbarrow. Then he came back and in the wheelbarrow was a sack full of potatoes that he had gotten from the other side. When he got to that side, he said, all right, I want to go over back again. Said to the crowd and said, how many of you believe that I can traverse this again without falling?

And all of them raised their hand. He said, okay, who's willing to get into the wheelbarrow? You can't talk about God in the wheelbarrow. You have to be willing to get in. You got to be willing to say, Lord, here I am, all of me, every area of my life.

If I go down, I'm going down with you. That's faith. He commended them for their love. He commended them for their faith.

He commended them for their service. What on earth are you doing for heaven's sake? What on earth are you doing for heaven's sake?

That sounds like a slogan, but think it through. What here and now are you doing that matters in heaven? You'd be surprised if we don't live contemplative lives.

If we don't think through issues, you'd be surprised how mundane, how earth oriented, how right now oriented we can all be. And the fact of the matter is we are called to make a difference on earth that matters in heaven. When Jesus taught us what we call the Lord's Prayer, He said, pray thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth just like it's being done in heaven. In heaven, it's all about what God wants.

On earth, in too many cases, it's all about what we want. And so there has to come a shift where you begin to live a heaven oriented life. What am I doing in my day-to-day life that matters in heaven?

Who am I loving in my day-to-day life that matters in heaven? That's what He talks about when He's talking about service. When He is talking about this, He is talking about people who are living in such a way as to make a difference on earth for all eternity. So when we serve people, we serve people in His name for His sake. We're not called to do good just because it is good.

I mean, it's better than not doing good at all. But we are called to do good for His sake. The Bible says in Ephesians 2 10, we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God had prepared in advance for us to do.

There are some things God wants you to do that matter to Him. How well are you getting your work done? How well are you serving the needs of others? Our church and every other church needs many, many more people to step up and say, I will give some of my time. I try to be a very practical pastor.

I ask people to not only tithe your income to the kingdom of God, but tithe your time, your waking hours to the kingdom of God. Take some time and say of all the waking hours, all the hours, count up the hours, how much sleep do you get in a given week? Every week has 168 hours. And then all of us get some amount of sleep during the course of that week. When you are awake, take those hours and just divide them by 10. Are you given at least that much time to things that matter in heaven?

Meaning, are you given that much time to worship and to service and to helping other people and to growing in your walk with the Lord? We got to start investing our quality time and things that matter beyond this life. Because one day you're going to realize in the presence of God, it didn't matter where you lived. One day you're going to realize it didn't matter how much money you had. You're going to realize it didn't matter what you drove. You're going to realize it didn't matter what who's who book your name was in. What will matter is, do you know Him and did you do His will?

That's what will matter. Now when you get this kingdom orientation right, you'll realize that God will use what you have. He'll bless the work of your hands.

He will bless many of us to be able to have money so that we can dedicate it to purposes that matter to God and not just consume it on ourselves. God's not against what you have. He's just against it having you. You can drive a nice car, live in a nice house and enjoy your life, take great vacations and all that as part of your kingdom orientation and don't let anybody make you feel bad. I refuse to let folk make me feel bad for enjoying life. What do you think God put me here for? But in the course of that, I must be about my Father's business. Because when it's all said and done, what does it profit a person if he gained the whole world and lose his soul?

You've got to keep a kingdom priority. You've got to make sure that you understand everything God gives me. It is not only for me to be blessed but also for me to be a blessing. And so you want to give your time in service, dedicate your time to the Lord in service and in spiritual growth and development.

He commended them for their perseverance. How well are you doing at pressing forward in the face of opposition? Some of us only do well when the sun is shining in our lives and everything is going well and you wake up singing, oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day. I have a wonderful feeling everything is going my way. But on those other days where the clouds are hanging low in your life, where it is not fun and not feeling happy at the moment, how well are you doing at pressing through, keeping your focus, keeping your eye on him, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith. It's hard right now, God, but I'm coming on through by your help. I'm going to press through. When the enemy rushes in like a flood, I'll lift up the standard of God against him.

Plead the blood of Jesus and press on through. How well are you doing at resisting pressure with more pressure? When the enemy brings pressure your way, you're supposed to push back harder than he pushed you. Because I'm not about retreating, I'm only about advancing. I'm on the winning side.

You're not backing me up, devil, I'm going on through. You got to have tenacity, you got to be able to fight. Some of us are just too chicken for our own good. You got to let God put some fight in you, even if by personality you tend to be a little timid. That's okay, God will probably not change your personality in terms of your general life, but when it comes to your spiritual fervor, you ought to go into a whole nother gear.

I don't care how timid you are in your personality. I'm telling you, you hardly can know what they're saying, they just whisper. That's all right, but when the devil shows up, you better go to hollering. In the name of Jesus, what you doing up in here?

You better get out of here. You got to tell the devil where to go, draw him a map so he won't get lost. You got to take authority, walk in authority. Persevere, press through your trouble, and don't back up for the enemy. If he gets in a good shot, every now and then, if you're not careful, that's why the Bible says walk circumspectly. Every now and then, he'll hit you from a blind side, knock you down.

You ever had the devil or life itself just knock you down? But when you have tenacity, you realize the fight's not over because I got knocked down. In fact, sometimes it's when a fighter gets knocked down that they finally realize, oh, this is a fight. Have you ever seen that dynamic? Some of y'all don't watch boxing, it's a little too violent for you.

I've always enjoyed a good boxing match, and every now and then, you see somebody boxing especially if they're the favorite and everybody thought they were just going to win, and they're out there just kind of playing around, doing a little Ali shuffle and all that stuff. Listen, every now and then, somebody fooling around like that gets knocked down, and I've seen them get up with a different look on their face. They get up as if to say, oh, oh, you want to fight, huh? Oh, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, come on, come on, let's go.

They get different, their stance gets different, their face gets different. Oh, you want to hit people with garbage cans, come on, I got something for you. You can't be timid, can't be laying down there if the devil knocked you down. You can't be down there talking about, what in the world happened to me?

I don't know what happened. I know, I thought I was in fight, next thing I know, I'm down here. What kind of, if you're listening to a radio broadcast or CD, I'm on the ground.

I preach on the ground sometime to make some points. And you, if you're down there, what kind of punch was that? That day hitting me where I never saw it coming. Meanwhile, the ref is counting four, five, six, you can't be landing to my, oh, man, I'm so embarrassed, my family looking at me. My kids wanted to come see the fight and now they see daddy down on the ground. No, uh-uh, you got to get upset, you're going to pay for that. You're going to pay for that.

You're not going to embarrass me and get away with it, you're going to pay for that. You got to tell the devil, I got something for you, come on in Jesus' name. You know, sometimes it takes getting knocked down to realize you're in a fight. Now is the season for getting back up, putting on the full armor of the living God and picking a fight of your own. As you prepare for battle, remember, victory has already been won by Jesus Christ. Do you need prayer today?

Visit pastorpaul.net, click contact us and let us know how we can pray for you. While you're there, be sure to ask for Pastor Paul's monthly letter of encouragement, which comes at no cost or obligation. And here's something else, a booklet from Pastor Paul Shepherd called Traits of a Virtuous Woman. Based on Proverbs 31, this booklet dives into some of the ways that godly women can have a profound impact in the lives of her family and all those around her. Women will find biblical instruction on what a godly woman looks like and others will be strongly encouraged to honor those women who have sown seeds of wisdom and grace into their lives. That's Traits of a Virtuous Woman, a booklet from Pastor Paul and our gift to you today by request for your generous gift to Destin for Victory. Call 855-339-5500 or visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. You can also mail your gift to Destin for Victory, post office box 1767, Fremont, California 94538. I'll repeat that once again.

It's Destin for Victory, box 1767, Fremont, California 94538. Be careful who you are taking lead from. Be careful who gets to influence you, who is influencing your decision and influencing your lifestyle choices.

You can't just follow any old body and end up in the right place. And so he gives a word of admonition. He says you're tolerating that woman Jezebel.

Who was this first century Jezebel and how was she able to wield so much power over the children of God? Well the answer comes your way tomorrow in Pastor Paul Shepherd's message, the danger of being misled. Until then remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ you are destined for victory.