Unrecognizable, Part 2 (cont'd)

Now for us, our enemy really is threefold. I've taught many times before a believer faces three enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil. All of us face the world, the flesh, and the devil. What does that mean?

That means we have to avoid the pitfalls that come with buying into a world system. The enemies of your state on today's Destined for Victory. Hello and welcome to another great day of teaching with Pastor Paul Shepherd, who is Senior Pastor of Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California. The world, the flesh, the devil. These are the adversaries you face as a believer in Christ, antagonists who want to ruin your state of mind and rob you of your spirituality.

But if you can resist them, you will emerge from your temptation and your trials so transformed, so dramatically changed, the people closest to you will hardly recognize you. Today Pastor Paul returns to the story of Joseph, a man who showed us how to win the war against these three forces of evil. Stay with us now or stop by pastorpaul.net to listen anytime.

And you can also subscribe to the podcast at Google Podcast or wherever you enjoy yours. Let's join Pastor Paul now as he shares today's message, Unrecognizable. Becoming focused in Joseph's experience also meant that he had to avoid pitfalls and traps that the enemy set for him. In Joseph's life, the pitfall came first. There were two that I want to discuss before I get off of this point. The first pitfall he had to avoid was named Mrs. Potiphar and the second pitfall he had to avoid was despair. Now, let me walk you through that. The first pitfall was Mrs. Potiphar.

You know why? Because when the Lord started blessing him and he became the chief servant in her husband's household and the Bible says with Joseph in charge, Potiphar didn't even have to think about anything other than what he wanted to eat. Joseph had everything running smoothly in that house and so things were going well. Well, Mrs. Potiphar saw how well things were going and Mrs. Potiphar wasn't a gold digger because she had the money, because her husband was a high, big shot Egyptian official. She had the money. She was shopping at Saks and Nordstrom and all of that. She was good to go. She had coach bags and Gucci and she had them shoes with the red up under the... I don't know how to pronounce them, but I seen them. She had them. What did y'all say?

Louboutin. She had that. She was good to go. Mrs. Potiphar had money. Money wasn't what she was after. She saw the same favor that her husband saw and her husband used it to promote Joseph. She used it to try to seduce Joseph.

Same favor. She saw God's hand on him, but she said, well, my husband has promoted him, given him prominence in the house. She said, but this young man not only has it going on, he works well, but the Bible specifically tells you in one of the verses here, verse 6, that Joseph was well built and handsome. She saw favor and fineness.

Can we talk? She saw favor. You know, some of you all would have to pray. If you come across favor and fineness that you seem to have access to.

Some of you all, you just might as well be honest now. You'd have to pray to avoid going in the wrong direction. Well, this woman didn't know Jehovah, didn't care anything about his religion. All she saw was favor and fineness. And she made up a scripture, the Lord is my shepherd.

I see what I want. And the Bible says she went after Joseph, took notice of him, and said she wasn't dropping hints and all like that. She straight up, verse 7, come to bed with me. Verse 8, but he refused. I submit to you that but he refused requires focus.

Come on, let's be honest now. Somebody desirable coming to you with an indecent proposal, he had to be focused enough to say, look at verse 8, with me in charge, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house. Everything he owns, he is entrusted to my care.

No one is greater in this house than I. My master has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God? Do you see that Joseph, although he's away from his family, he's away from the people of God, he's away from his spiritual inheritance, he has taken the Lord with him into Egypt, and he says I'm not where I want to be but God is with me where I am and God doesn't play that and he wants me to stay focused where I am. What Joseph doesn't know yet is God is going to bless him before this is all over with a fine wife of his own. He doesn't need somebody else's because God's going to give him his own. He doesn't know that yet.

It's important for you to understand. He doesn't know what the future holds. See, because a lot of us say, yeah, well, sure, he could turn her down because he knew something. He didn't know a thing. He's a slave. He didn't know if he'd ever be allowed to marry.

He had no assurances. All he knew is God is with me. And God said this lady isn't mine.

What in your life is available but it's not yours? God says you got to avoid pitfalls because I'm taking you somewhere and you need to avoid the traps that the enemy sets. Now, for us, our enemy really is threefold. I've taught many times before a believer faces three enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil. All of us face the world, the flesh, and the devil.

What does that mean? That means we have to avoid the pitfalls that come with buying into a world system. The world has a system that is very ungodly, that is very anti-God. Just look around you and you will see the world operating with no sense whatsoever of what God wants.

They could care less. And so we are living in an increasingly pagan society, increasingly. I feel sorry for people who keep trying to hold on to this is a Christian nation. Where you been? Where in the world have you been? Any time we let a few little atheists take the Bible out of our public schools, in my lifetime, in the 60s, we grew up reciting scripture in public school.

No more. It's a lawsuit now. In fact, a teacher can come put a Bible on her desk to read at lunchtime and somebody's going to call some authority and try to make trouble for her.

It's happening right now. This is no Christian nation. But while we are in this world, we are not to be of this world.

So we have to resist the pitfalls and the traps. Now they're redefining everything. They decide what marriage is. They didn't create marriage. God created marriage.

But in a pagan society, they say, no, we don't like that definition. We're going to change it. And we're going to call it a right to marry who you will.

And it doesn't matter what gender they are. If they keep going down this road, we're going to see some more startling things. As people feed into the world system, we can do whatever we want. There's no deity to answer to.

Well, you and I have to avoid those pitfalls and those traps. My preacher friends, more and more, I'm hearing more and more preachers who are redefining marriage so that people will keep coming to their church. Just recently heard from a preacher who's preaching I have admired. He's the latest one in the cave.

Well, I don't see any way in Scripture where it has to be. I'm just checking them off one by one. Every now and then I'll call some of my closest preacher friends and say, you still believe the Bible, don't you?

I'm just trying to see how much company I have. Oh, we do. We get on the phone and say, you still believe that? He says, yeah. I say, OK, good. You and me. Because they've fallen like flies.

Why? The world system. The Bible says don't let the world squeeze you into its mold.

That's one of the translations of Romans 12. Be not conformed to this world. That means don't let the world squeeze you into its mold. Don't conform.

I'm a nonconformist where the world is concerned. You don't dictate how I live. The word dictates how I live.

You don't dictate my values. The word dictates my values. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I am who God says I am. I do what God authorizes me to do.

I avoid what God tells me to avoid. You say, well, what about when you mess up? When you mess up, you repent. You get up and you get right.

A mess up doesn't give you an excuse to keep on messing up. At a certain point, you've got to say, God is right. I've been wrong. I'm turning this ship around so God can bless me. And I'm here to tell somebody that the blessing of the Lord is ahead of you, but you've got to avoid the pitfalls and the traps.

You've got to avoid the world. Then the flesh. What is the flesh? The flesh is the enemy in a me. So you've got to understand, you're saved by grace, but you live in a body that is prone, that has been prone, that has a track record. Before you got saved, your body got used to following the dictates of an unregenerated mind. And that unregenerated mind didn't get so eradicated that it can never revisit you. You've got to get your theology straight. When you got saved, you did not get so saved that you are past the point where you can be drawn into fleshly behavior. There is no such place on earth where the flesh...

I don't even have to think about the flesh. You better. The Bible says we have to crucify it. I've got to die to self.

I've got to say no. Read Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6 said you are going to be the servant of whoever you yield. And if you yield to the flesh, you'll serve the flesh. And it has nothing to do with longevity. Don't tell me how long you've been saved.

What's that got to do with anything? Do you know you can make the biggest mess of your life 20 years in, 25 years in, 30 years in? Been walking with God a long time, but one moment of saying, you know what? This fleshly alternative looks a little more attractive than suffering right now by doing the will of God.

I'm going to go this way. Stay with us the second half of Pastor Paul Shepherd's message is coming right up. We want to thank all of you who support Destin for Victory with your prayers and financial support. Gifts that help Pastor Paul share the joy of the Gospel message with a growing audience. Destin for Victory is supported entirely by friends like you, so please prayerfully consider making a generous gift to Destin 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. Now, for more insights from the life of Joseph, here's Pastor Paul with the rest of today's message, unrecognizable. You've got to avoid the traps of the world, the flesh, and then we have Satan. You who are too sophisticated to believe in the devil, I feel so sorry for y'all. The devil is real. Demons are real. The reason why you see these crazy people doing such crazy things is because they are inspired by an enemy you can't see. And you listen to him. Somebody told me, just go in there and shoot up everybody. Who told you that? And some folk refusing to believe that there's a real enemy, well, see, it was a psychotic episode that they had, and certain things happened in their mind, and when we did an x-ray of their brain, there were things.

Fine, you go right on and do all of that. But I've met the enemy up close and personal. I've cast him out of a many a folk, and I know the devil speaks in language people understand. And some of them follow his leadings.

You've got to learn to avoid the enemies. Now, Joseph avoided Mrs. Potiphar because the Bible says, once he knew she was hitting on him, he refused not only to go to bed with her, he refused to even be with her. When he saw she was coming to the part of the house where he was working, he made his way to another part of the house. He knew she was working on him. You know that woman was working her wardrobe?

Come on, now, if you're going to get your blessing out of the Bible, you've got to think. Sister girl was working that. Now, some of you girls, sisters, before y'all were holy, think back to your pre-holy days, and as somebody you set your eyes on, you knew you had to do more than set your eyes.

You had to work your wardrobe and work your makeup and all of that stuff. See, you sit up here looking holy. You know what I'm talking about. All in the mirror. Mm-hmm, I bet he's going to pay attention to this. You know how to do that. That's what that woman was doing.

Soon as her husband Potiphar went off to work, she was giving Joseph a fashion show. So he figured out, I don't need to see all that because I've already made up my mind. I'm going to do God's will. There's no need of window shopping at Temptation Mall. So no need of me looking at it.

Since I can't have it, no need of looking at it. See, some of y'all mess up. You let your pride send you right down the wrong road. I'm a man. I can handle it. Famous last words. I can handle it. You don't know that some sisters out here who look for somebody like you, she don't want to just break down the average Joe Blow.

She wants somebody like you who's full of himself. And this go two ways too. There's some players out here, girl, that'll blow your mind. You're talking about, uh-uh, you can't run game on me. Next thing you know, you're somewhere cooking the morning after.

You want cheese in your eggs? You all know I'm telling the truth. Talking about you weren't going to be broke down. You got broke down all night long.

I know some of y'all like, what we going to do with him? You can't do nothing. It's too late to see you. I'm already cooked.

You can't. My wife gave it her best shot for a lot of years. After all, she just sit there and shake her head. Didn't know he didn't just say that up there in that pulpit. But you know what? I've gotten to a place in life where I realize there's no future in fronting.

We better shoot straight because folks are missing it big time, and we better make up in our minds. If we're going to do the will of God, we're going to have to get serious about some things. And there is somebody who will break you down in any area, not just sexually, in any area where you are prone.

If money is your thing, there's some money that's going to find its way to you that is illegal and illegitimate, but that doesn't mean it's not going to tempt you. And so you've got to learn to avoid. Joseph said, I'm not putting myself through it.

If she comes this way, I'm going that way. And you know Joseph, in order to pull this off, was hiding. There was days when he's somewhere behind. And he hear her somewhere in the house.

Anybody seen Joseph? And he down there and one of the other servants come in, he says, shh. You've got to make arrangements to do right. Doing right is not going to be convenient. You've got to make decisions and arrangements.

You've got to take some numbers out your phone book. Because they've shown you who you are, and now it's your job to believe them. And make arrangements to do the will of God. But not only did he have to avoid those, his focus made him avoid those, but he had to avoid despair. What do I mean by that?

One day, she got tired of this trying to get him, because you know, it was just feeding her fantasy that he was refusing her. Some folk, you know, there's a few folk who get broken down and get convicted. Oh, that's right, I ought to be ashamed of myself. Potiphar is so good to me, and I really should just be ashamed of myself. I should leave this young man alone. A few folk do that.

There's another bunch of which some of y'all used to be. Who would say, oh, he got integrity too? He got favor, he fine, and he got integrity?

Oh, I've always liked a man with integrity. And it made her go after him harder. So one day, she catches him. He couldn't get away quick enough. She grabbed him by his clothing, and said, you and I have an appointment in that bedroom right there, right now. And in order to preserve his integrity, we're told here in Genesis 39, he ran out of his clothing, the part she had, came out of it in order to preserve what God was doing in his life. So what did she do? She used it against him. If I can't have you, I'm going to destroy you. When her husband came home, she said, look at this, you know what this belongs to?

Your favorite servant in the house, the one you promoted all up above everybody else. And he came in here and tried to rape me. Biggest lie you ever heard.

Now here is a very interesting thing. Potiphar, the Bible says, became angry, took Joseph, and threw him in the prison where the king's prisoners were kept. Wait now, you just heard that a slave who you had entrusted a lot of authority in your house, you heard that he has betrayed your trust to the level of trying to rape your wife, and you put him in country club jail?

What was that? Favor. Favor because Joseph could have been killed and there would have not even been a trial because he was not an Egyptian citizen. He could have killed him, just pulled out a sword, cut his throat, end of it. Bury him in a ditch somewhere. Nothing.

No trial, no investigation, no grand jury. Just done. Why didn't he do that? Favor. The same favor that would not let his brothers kill him, leave him in a ditch to die.

One of them said, we can't do this, let's sell him. God intervened. Listen, some of you all don't know you were slated for death, but God has such a plan for your life that while the enemy would have wiped you out already, by now you'd be a memory.

By now you'd be on a funeral program hanging in your family's house. But God said, I'm not finished with her yet. I'm not finished with him yet. I still got some things I'm taking them to and I'm not going to let the enemy take them out prematurely. Are you going through tough times today?

Challenges that seem insurmountable? Be encouraged by today's message from Pastor Paul Shepherd. Ask God not for justice, but for mercy, for favor, for strength to make it through your seasons of pain and suffering. Joy and peace is available to you right now, even in the midst of your darkest, most painful trials. This is part of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You know, our highest calling is to share the gospel with the world. And a great way to do that is by partnering with Pastor Paul and the Destined for Victory ministry. In light of some severe challenges these past two years or so, people are coming to faith in Christ all over the world, many of them through the Destined for Victory broadcast.

As our way of saying thanks for your partnership of $20 or more a month, we'll send you a few thank you gifts, including one of Pastor Paul's most popular CDs, The Best of Let My People Smile. Call 855-339-5500 and find out more about how to become a Destined for Victory partner. Make your pledge over the phone or mail your gift letting us know you wish to become our partner.

Our address is simply Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, CA 94538. And you can also become our partner from our website, pastorpaul.net. Now if you can't become a partner but would like to send a generous gift to the ministry today, we'd love to share with you a gift of our own, Pastor Paul Shepherd's booklet, Turning Your Test Into a Testimony. That's Turning Your Test Into a Testimony, our gift to you this month by request for your generous gift to Destined for Victory. Make sure you're guarding against despair because you tend to look at all the injustices and all the wrongs in your life and everybody who didn't treat you right and you are busy campaigning for things to be fair. I want you to know I'd rather have favor from God than fairness from man. That's tomorrow in Pastor Paul Shepherd's message, Unrecognizable. Until then remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.