There's an App for That! (cont'd)

First, I listen.

Then I accept. Now I must apply. I must apply the Word.

There's an act for that. I must apply the Word. I must do what the Word just told me I should do. Think of God's Word like the brakes in your car.

The only work if you apply them. Hello and welcome to this Friday edition of Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd, Senior Pastor of Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California. The book of James is one of the most practical books in the Bible, a how-to guide on how to live the Christian life. And it starts by listening to the voice of truth, the infallible Word of God, and then applying that truth to our everyday lives. Today's message is straight ahead. Stay right here or listen to the podcast on demand at PastorPaul.net. That's PastorPaul.net. Now, let's join Pastor Paul for today's message. There's an app for that. Do not be one of these people who listens, doesn't like, rejects, and then walks away from it.

If you are, look at verse 23. If you listen but don't do what it says, you'll be like a person who looks at their face in a mirror. And after looking at their face in the mirror, goes away and immediately forgets what they look like.

Let me illustrate it. This morning, you got up. At some point, you went to a mirror. You looked in a mirror. I hope there's no one here who didn't look in the mirror at any point before you got here. I trust everybody had that level of wisdom. You need that level of wisdom.

Why? Because when you go to the mirror in the morning after a long night of sleep or a short night of sleep, whatever, the mirror is going to reveal the truth. Come on, how many of y'all saw the truth when you woke up this morning? You saw the truth. And that truth wasn't pretty, but it was important for you to see.

Come on, think this through with me. The mirror's job was to reveal what is. You would have been foolish to look in the mirror this morning and say, I don't care what that mirror say, I'm fine. The mirror didn't say you weren't fine.

The mirror just revealed that there are some things you might want to consider before you leave this house. That was the mirror's job. It didn't cuss you out. It didn't call you out of your name. The mirror's job was just to reveal what is. For some of you, it revealed wrinkles in your face.

You slept wrong. And there's a wrinkle in your face, a little crease that you need to work on. Some of you all drooled through the night and the mirror revealed that there was some dried up drool. Oh, see, some of y'all about to trip right now.

He up there tripping. No, I'm telling you what you saw. Little dried up drool. And the mirror was saying you might want to do something about that. Some of you all, your hair was going in every which direction. Sisters, a curler came out that you wanted to stay secure during the night, but it came out. And there's a piece of hair that wants to have its own way.

Come on. Some of you, it revealed that there was some crud down there in the corner of your eye. Oh, see, y'all tripping, y'all tripping.

Something in the corner of your eye. And the mirror was there to show you might want to get you a little wash rag and get that cleaned out. All the mirror did was reveal. But James said, if you listen to God's word, but you don't do what it says, you are as foolish as you would have been this morning by just getting up and going out, not allowing the mirror to help you address the issues. And he says, we must learn that that's how foolish it is to walk away from the word.

Why? Because the word doesn't change for us. Through the years of being a preacher and being a pastor, I've always seen at different times in a particular message where I hit some hard point, I've seen people get up, pack up their little grip and get out. And I can tell by the look on their face that it's in response to being angry about something I said.

And I've seen it over the years, every now and then it happens. And they're offended. But what offended them? I didn't offend them. The word of truth offended them. I'm the mailman.

You don't get mad at the mailman because you don't like the letter. My job is to deliver the word of truth. And my job is to live by the word of truth.

I'm delivering to you because it's coming to me too. When I preach, I have to hear what I say and I have to abide by what I say or face the consequences. And there have been times in my life when I preached it and didn't live by it. And the same God that's going to convict you, convicted me. And the same God that will discipline you, disciplined me. I don't get to escape the truth of the word. We all got to do what God said to do.

No exception. And so if you don't do what it says, James says, it's like looking in the mirror, forgetting that you got all this stuff, hairs out of place, crud, drool, wrinkles, desperately need makeup, whatever else. Notice that he keeps using the word deception or some form thereof.

We saw it in earlier messages. He said, don't deceive yourself. He's saying it again here. If you listen to the word but don't do it, you will deceive yourself. What does he mean when he keeps saying beware of deception? If we don't listen to the word of God and then apply it, he says we will deceive ourselves by ignoring it. Because you ignore something doesn't mean it goes away. So he says if you hear the word but don't do it, you'll deceive yourself. I don't like it.

I don't want to abide by it. So I'm going to ignore it. But the truth is still there and that truth now will judge you both in this life and it will certainly judge you in the time of judgment. You're going to run into every truth that you heard and ignored. You're going to run into them all because God was speaking. It's not like we were speaking.

God was speaking and his eternal word is going to meet us again in the end. And deception, what's the definition? Deception means I think I'm right but I'm wrong. It's the most dangerous state for you to live in, to think you're right. You actually think you're right and you're wrong. And the word told you you were wrong but you ignored it.

And you made yourself ruler and final court of arbitration about what was right and wrong. That's why Jesus said in Matthew 7, a whole lot of people are going to say, Lord, Lord, but they will not enter the kingdom. Don't you believe for a minute that everybody who showed up at a church today is going to heaven? Because there are a lot of people who have shown up at the church, heard the word, rejected part of it and walked away from it, deceived themselves thinking they're right and the word said they're wrong and it's going to judge them. Even our old parents said everybody talking about heaven ain't going there.

And it's true, saints. So we have to live by the word. So don't get mad at pastor when I'm telling you God's word is calling for all of us to change.

Singles love you all to death. Don't get mad when pastor telling you you can't be sexually active and be in the will of God. You can't. I know you want to. I realize everybody around you is doing it. I realize it feels silly and foolish to be virtuous in a day like this.

I get it. I know the world you're living in. People say, what are you saving it for? And they make you feel foolish for not living in moral filth. Because the Bible calls it moral filth.

We just read it, moral filth. Call me filthy. I didn't, the word called you filthy. When you're having sex with somebody and won't marry them, that's filthy the Bible says.

And it's popular, but that doesn't make it not filthy. Ooh, see I'm losing folk already. You can't say, but I have needs. No, you need to get married. And if they won't marry you, you need to put up the cookies. Put them up. Seal the jar.

Lock it in a cabinet. No cookies, no goodies here. Without marriage. Want the cookies? Got to put a ring on it.

And then follow that up with an actual date at an actual altar with an actual ceremony. Oh, come on, somebody. See, that's tight, isn't it?

That's tight. Where else you going to hear that but here? You're not going to hear that anywhere else but here. I'm the only, me and a few other preachers who's still not scared. We're the only ones. I check with my pastor friends every now and then. Y'all still preaching the truth? I do.

Sometimes we just talk and we just check each other out. You still believe that sin? Have you changed? You've gotten some new version of the Bible?

Because I want to know. I want to roll with people who are preaching foolishness. I mean, they are falling like flies. Folk who 15, 20 years ago they would preach a good, sound, balanced word. And now they're letting folk feel like anything goes. Pastors are not going to do that to you. You can get mad and go somewhere if you want to. I can't do that.

You single? Put them up. We'll be right back with more of today's Destined for Victory message from Pastor Paul Shepard. Listen to the broadcast on demand at pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net. And when you stop by, check out our online store for a host of great resources, including books and DVDs from Pastor Paul. You can also listen to the program right in the palm of your hand by downloading the free Destined for Victory app. Search for Destined for Victory in the app store. Pastor Paul will join me from his studio in California after today's message, so stay tuned for that.

But first, let's join him for the second half of this message. There's an app for that. I often mention shacking. You who are shacking, living unmarried with a person as if you were a married couple.

You're outside of the will of God. I'm doing those weddings all the time. All the time. Y'all don't see, we do some on Sunday morning, but you don't see the other ones. Because what are people doing? They come in sitting and the Word convicts them.

And they say, you know what, we got to get this together. I mean, it's not just folk who just shacked up recently. I have married veteran shackers. I promise you I have.

Veteran. I married a couple, got shacking grandkids. That's how long they've been shacking.

But the Word hit them. And they said, there's no statute of limitations on obeying the Word. And they show up years later and say, pastor, here's our situation.

They tell me, we've never been married and all that, but we heard the Word and we want to get this right. Come on, give me the license, get the license, bam, put them together. And now you get to live, you can go on back in the house, do what you've been doing.

But now you can do it in the will of God. And I want to say to the ones who aren't shacking, you don't get any extra credit because you do drive-by sins. Well, see, I ain't shacked up. He ain't talking to me because I ain't shacked up.

Yeah, but you're doing drive-by. A booty call. What you doing? Nothing. What you doing?

Nothing? All right, I'm going to fall through for a few minutes. All right, and he come fall through. And when he leaves, shortly thereafter, y'all have been in moral filth, the Bible just called it. Nobody going to call it moral filth but a preacher who's preaching you the Word of truth. And you've got to stop and you've got to tell him you can't come through here like that anymore because until you're going to marry me, you can't have any of this.

That's it. Live by the Word of truth and see how often he want to come by when he know the cookie jar is closed. And then the enemy going to tell you, you know, if you don't help him out, there's somebody else.

And the enemy will set that up in your head as though you're going to miss out on something. Living in moral filth, I'm adding value to my life. I'm adding value to the stock of my life. I'm saying to you, you can't have access to me without making a full marital commitment to me.

You're adding value to your stock. Oh, this is hard but it's right. But Pastor, have we all come sure?

Yes, we have. That's what the blood is for. You say, Lord, I messed up. I'm so sorry. But remember, repentance means to change my mind and my direction. Do not try to practice a confession life. I know some folk, not y'all, but people I know, they use Sunday prayers on Sunday at their church to confess everything they did wrong Monday through Saturday with no intention of changing it the next week. So all you do is just acknowledge this Sunday morning, yeah, you know, you know, well, Lord, you know what happened Friday night, I mean. That's not repentance. That's just confessing. That's just acknowledging what you did. Repentance means, Lord, I'm so sorry and I want to please you and do your will because I want your blessings on my life. And so I'm going to give up thinking I'm right, you're wrong. I'm going acknowledge that you're right and I'm wrong. And I'm going to ask you to not only forgive me but cleanse me and teach me how to avoid displeasing you moving forward.

So he says, don't be like the person looking in the mirror but won't do anything about it. And then it ends with a glorious promise that I want to encourage you with. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this, watch this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it, he will be blessed in what he does. I want to tell you, when you do it God's way, you got a blessing. Not only a blessing coming, you got a life of blessing that's coming your way. He says when you live to look into the perfect law, talking about the new covenant of Christ and his love, and you continue in it, he says you're setting yourself up to be blessed. I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to a life of blessing. Now blessings these days were so materialistic. Blessings aren't always financial.

Sometimes they are, but trust me when I tell you, God can bless you with a good child. Trust me when I tell you, God can bless you with peace of mind. Oh, I see some blessed folk up in here. God can bless you to be able to go to sleep at night.

Oh, that's a blessing. Anybody had a blessing of sleep? God will bless you so that you can sleep all night long.

When you are living raggedy and foolish and in these crazy relationships and anger and all that stuff, you couldn't sleep, couldn't keep your food down. Oh, but now that you're walking in the way of the Lord, he's blessing you with life and health and peace of mind and peace of heart and kids. And God will bless you with your kids who will acknowledge the truth in their own lives. He'll bless you in ways that money can't buy. And he ends the passage by saying, listen, don't be falsely religious.

And he gives an example, a real practical example. He says when you want to practice real genuine relationship with God, he says do things like look after orphans and widows in their distress. Of all the things he could have given us an example, he says look around and find somebody who doesn't have the ability to fend for themselves. In Bible days, to be a widow, to be an orphan, you were in an awfully precarious situation because you weren't in a society that had any type of social support for you. There was no office you could go down to and apply for assistance in Bible days. If anybody was going to look after the widow or the orphan, it had to be somebody who couldn't get anything out of it. And he said if you want to practice true religion, find somebody. Find these people you're giving them something for Christmas and they're giving you something for Christmas. Find somebody who can't give you a thing. Oh, come on.

And be a blessing to them. My wife and I in recent years have stopped. We decided we're going to stop blessing each other on Christmas. That's my wife. She can have anything I have. And that wasn't because of, well, you know the law.

It's not about the law. The Bible says the two become one. Two become one. She can have anything. So my wife doesn't have to get it for Christmas. She can get it February 23rd, April 29th, January the 3rd, any old day. She said, baby, I was looking at something and I want to get it.

It's done. If I got it, she got it. That's how marriage is supposed to work. You folk who are trying to get me to marry you with a prenup, Pastor Paul doesn't do those.

Just telling you now, Pastor Paul doesn't do those. I don't marry with prenups because I married a Bible where the two become one, not the two become almost one. But see, I got this nest egg over here.

Because if you're going to marry them, it's all in. I just made some new folk mad. You get over it. God bless you.

You'll be all right. I don't do those. I'm just telling you now.

I've had them come to me, Pastor. You know, I just need you to look over this document. And as soon as I say it's a prenup, I say, I don't have to read that. I'm not marrying you over with that. I'm marrying you by a covenant in the Word. And the covenant of the Word says the two become one. You can't hide your stuff.

If you don't trust them, don't marry them. Thanks so much for joining us for today's message. There's an app for that. Always glad to have you with us. As promised, Pastor Paul has joined me here in the studio. Pastor, I know your heart is encouraged by so many of our friends who are listening and letting us know that Destined for Victory is having an impact in their lives. Tell us, and remind me, why are you so committed to using media as a part of this ministry? Well, Wayne, I'll tell you, I'm sold on the fact that if we're going to fulfill the Great Commission, and of course that's our job as the body of Christ, to go into the world to make disciples, to baptize people and teach them to observe all things that Christ commanded, if we're going to do that, I am more convinced than ever it demands that we take a strong, fresh look at how to use technology and every other resource to that end. In other words, we've got to realize we who are boomers – I'm a baby boomer, between 46 and 64, that's our generation.

Me too. And I realize that we were the last generation in American history that was typically raised in church or in some religious training. And we've got three full generations under us, and now there's an emerging fourth generation, they're still being developed, they're known as Generation Alpha. My first grandchild is an alpha baby.

Oh, is that right? And so I realize that with these three, four generations we've got to preach the gospel to, they're not inclined to come to church and hear the gospel, if you will, but the vast majority of them are probably going to have to be reached where they are before we can get them into the life of a church. So technology is very important to the end that we can reach them with the good news of Jesus Christ. That's what it's all about, Pastor, reaching as many people as we can with the gospel. You know, media can often go where missionaries cannot, into the homes of elderly shut-ins or those who have no way of getting to church.

It can also travel into remote areas of the world that are often hostile to the Christian faith. Just one more reason why your gifts to Destin for Victory are so critical to the cause of Christ. For your generous gift to Destin for Victory today, we'd like to send you a booklet from Pastor Paul called Get Your Hopes Up. That's Get Your Hopes Up, a booklet from Pastor Paul, and our gift to you this month by request for your generous gift to Destin for Victory. Call us at 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.

Again, our address is Destin for Victory, Box 1767, Fremont, California 94538. Listen, God is against you putting people in categories and ranks and acting like these people are more important than those people. God cares about people in all categories. That's next time in Pastor Paul Shepherd's message, Who Cares About Poor People? Until then, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.