Divine Hookups (cont'd)

That's the first way to be blessed is to so generously, tithes and offerings into the kingdom. Because if you give God of the first fruits, some of us are a witness that He will turn around and bless you in a crazy way. Jesus said, Give and it shall be given to you.

A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. Hello and welcome to this Friday edition of Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd. Eternal life in the hereafter, abundant life in the here and now, that's what God wants to give you. But as you'll see today, sometimes God's blessing comes with a condition attached. Today's Destined for Victory message is straight ahead. Be sure to visit pastorpaul.net to listen to any of Pastor Paul's recent messages on demand. That's pastorpaul.net.

Also, you can subscribe to the Destined for Victory podcast at Spotify, at Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your programs. Now, here's Pastor Paul with today's Destined for Victory message, Divine Hookups. And so if that's true of health, let's talk about our financial health.

Sometimes you and I are just in patterns that need to change. Yes, it would be wonderful if you get supernatural debt cancellation. That would be so wonderful. And if it comes, praise God and give Him the glory and then break off something and make sure the kingdom is blessed real, real good.

Come on, somebody. Don't leave the kingdom of God out. Now, let's see, what can I buy?

No, no. First thing you want to do is thank God by giving generously into the kingdom of God. Honor Him with the first fruits of what He has blessed you with. But now let's talk practically. If you're going to get out of debt, don't just believe for supernatural elimination.

Just do some natural elimination. You got to decide you can't buy everything you want. You can't spend like you want. If you want to be blessed financially, you need to sow into the kingdom. That's the first way to be blessed is to sow generously tithes and offerings into the kingdom.

Because if you give God of the first fruits, some of us are witness that He will turn around and bless you in a crazy way. Anybody ever had got you gave a tithe and your natural mind said that make no sense. Given 10 percent of your money down there at that church. First you're not given to a church, you're given to the kingdom.

The church is a manifestation expression of the kingdom of God. If it's a healthy church. Now if it's not a healthy church, don't give them anything.

Amen. I'm a pastor telling you that. Don't give anything where people are not seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Whether or not seeking to bless the lives of people. Whether or not seeking to have the gospel preached around the world. Whether or not seeking to minister to people in the name of Christ. If they're not taking care of folk, then don't bless them with the money.

But if they are doing kingdom work, then you need to stop letting folk tell you, I don't know why you go down there and give them people 10 percent. I'm not giving it to people. I'm giving it to the Lord. I'm so glad I grew up in a church where I was taught that from a child.

I don't know if some of y'all can relate to it. In my life, I was taught from a child. Because I was raised in a Christian home. My mom and daddy saved their parents. Eventually got saved. One of them, my father's father, got saved late in his 80s.

But thank God he came to Christ. But my parents were saved. And my mother taught us to tithe from Sunday school time. I remember back when I was a youngster and my allowance was a dollar a week. And my mother wouldn't give us a paper dollar. She would give us three quarters, two dimes and a nickel. And she said, now, one of those dimes belongs to God. She said, when you go to Sunday school, you give God that dime. That's his.

You can't take that to the store. That's God's money. And we were taught, and if you give it to him, then he will bless the rest. See, we were taught as kids. And so we took that dime and dropped it off at Sunday school. Because I want to be blessed with the 90 cent. And that came along, so as I grew, began to get my little childhood jobs and all, the principal was there. Give him his 10 percent, give him an offering on top of that, and he'll bless what remains.

And so it wasn't any problem. Then eventually I'm making a hundred dollars a week at my little corner store job. I'm thinking I'm rich, hundred dollars.

Corner store. But I knew ten dollars of that hundred belonged to him. And then I was to give an offering just to thank him out of what was left. And I would expect to see God multiply and bless the rest.

And so you get used to that. I think we need to get back to that, parents. Teach our children the benefit of honoring God first. Before they get their first credit cards. Before they get their first means of spending. Teach them the principle of giving.

And you'll see God bless them in amazing ways. So tithing is not a problem, never been a problem. You know what happens, a lot of folks, when they start thinking, well, yeah, tithing a dime out of a dollar, that's no problem. Yeah, but what when you have a thousand? I don't know about giving him a hundred.

No, no, keep on working the principle. Because God's going to bless the rest. And when he gives you ten thousand, you know what to do. Move the decimal one to the left. See when people say, I don't understand tithing. Oh, that's easy. Move the decimal point one to the left.

That's your tithe. I made up a Beyonce song about it. To the left, to the left, move the decimal one to the left. That's it.

Don't act like you don't remember that years ago. When Beyonce did to the left, to the left. So I just made it a tithing song. Move the decimal one to the left.

All that God has done for you and all that he has brought you through. To the left, to the left, move the decimal one to the left. So when he gives you a thousand, move the decimal one to the left. That hundred belongs to him. Thank you for this thousand, Lord. Here's your tithe.

Let me give you an offering over top of this and I'm going to expect you to bless the rest. When he gives you ten thousand, move it one to the left. Give him a thousand.

Give him an offering and say, Lord, bless the rest. When he gives you a hundred thousand, move the decimal one to the left. Amen.

Don't drop out your amens now. And when he gives you that mill that you've been waiting on. How many of you all want to see a million roll up in your account one of these days?

Well, you've got to be faithful and move the decimal one to the left. A hundred thousand of that belongs to him. Amen. If you ever want to see ten million where your tithe would be a million, keep on being faithful over the things you have right now. You ever heard people say, we're working on something right now and when that comes through, pastor, I'm going to hook you all up. You're lying because Jesus said you're lying. Luke 16 said, whoever can be trusted with little can also be trusted with much.

But whoever is dishonest with little will also be dishonest with much. Don't lie to yourself. I know I don't give now, but man, when my ship comes in, I'm going to hook the church up.

No, you're not. You're stingy now, you're going to be stingy then. You're covetous now, you're going to be covetous then.

You are self-centered now, you're going to be self-centered then. You've got to learn to bless him out of what you have right now. I don't have a lot, but I'm going to give God what is due him right now. I'm going to be like that little widow in Jesus' day. Do you know Jesus was talking about this principle once and he was in the place where people were giving the offering and Jesus saw a widow come around and she placed a mite in and Jesus said to his followers, do you know she outgave everybody else? How did she outgave everybody else and only gave a mite?

He said because that was all she had. And she gave it to God because she knew she needed him to give her whatever she needed for the rest of her life. So why hold on to this little when I can sow it into the kingdom of God and ask God to produce 30, 60, 100 fold blessings in my life.

And we have to learn that. Don't say when you get your money, when you get your check, when your business idea comes through, when you get your IPO. No, no, you've got to bless him now out of what you have right now. And if you bless him out of what you have now, he'll turn around and bless you in tremendous ways. Up next, the rest of today's Destined for Victory message with Pastor Paul Shepherd. We want to thank all of you whose prayers and financial support help Pastor Paul share the gospel all over the world. Your donations do make a difference. So as God leads, prayerfully consider making a generous gift to Destined for Victory today.

You can give online securely at pastorpaul.net or simply call 855-339-5500. Well, if God can take five loaves and two fish and feed 5,000 men and their families, imagine what he can do for you. Here's Pastor Paul with the rest of today's Destined for Victory message, Divine Hookups. I don't know if any of you are witnesses, but I'm a witness and I bet some of you are too, that God will take a little and he'll stretch it and make it more than what you need. Why?

Because he's a God of hookups. Debts were forgiven. We have to learn. We have to learn to just let God bless us through giving.

And now, not only do you get your finances together through giving, but then you have to get your finance together through pre-planned spending after you have put some aside. What we have to learn is not everything you get now is for now. We have to learn the Joseph Principle. Do you remember when God blessed Joseph to turn things around in the nation of Egypt? Joseph, when he became the second in command in Egypt, the Lord had already shown him through the Pharaoh's dream. Joseph interpreted it and he said, I know that means that there are going to be seven years of unusual blessing, seven years of plenty of overflow, followed by seven years of severe famine.

And so what was the word of wisdom God gave Joseph, who then gave it to the nation of Egypt? He said, we're going to take from the years of plenty and set aside 20 percent. And that's for later. We're going to need it. But right now we've got to set it aside. And sure enough, you know what happened in Egypt.

When the years of severe famine came, they opened up the storehouses and began to disseminate what had been saved up in the years of plenty. Do you know some of our problem is we consume 100 percent of what we get now? Just going down to the grunts and groans, that's fine. But God didn't give it all to you for you to be blessed with it now. Some of it's for later for you. It might not be 20 percent, but you need to find what is the right percentage for you.

There's no dictate that applies to all of us. But find the right percentage for you and say, Lord, I'm a put this aside and thank you that you bless me to have something to put aside. Now here's what a lot of folks do. Oh, all the debt I'm in, I'm not even to make it enough for what I got now.

That's the problem. We put debt into our own lives. We cursed ourselves by buying what we couldn't afford. All right, preach doc. Find what we couldn't afford and we need to say, Lord, I'm sorry, I didn't follow you.

I didn't pay attention to what I should have done. I got into this debt culture. We're in a whole culture that is run by debt. Talk to your grandparents, great grandparents and ask them how they handled money in their day. You say, yeah, but the houses were so cheap back then. Yeah, so were the salaries low back then. Don't pull that. Don't lie to yourself. Well, they could afford.

No, no, no. It was the same ratio. Low housing, low expenses, but they still had expenses. But you know what? They didn't have a wallet full of credit cards. Oh, I just said something. In fact, if you really study the history prior to World War Two, people weren't buying things on credit for the most part. Much of the credit industry only developed after World War Two.

People bought it when they could afford it. And so you got to tell yourself today, I got myself into a mess. Lord, I'm so sorry.

Please forgive me. Now give me a strategy for getting out of this. Give me a strategy. And when you get me out, help me to not go back in. Oh, I need somebody. Lord, when you get me out, help me to never go back.

And he will. He'll help you get out. And he's using people, Dave Ramsey and many others. God is using them. They're part of your financial prosperity plan.

You can't just believe God for supernatural debt elimination. You're going to have to let these people tell you, stop spending money at the restaurant when you don't have restaurant budget. I told you sometime you can't go with them. They go on called Sally's birthday and they go on to Chili's at lunch to celebrate Sally's birthday.

And they stop by your office, your cubicle. You coming with us? We taking Sally out. You sit right there.

Say, hey, girl, happy birthday, Sally. Then you reach in your drawer, pull out your brown bag. Oh, I'm trying to help somebody. Pull out your brown bag. Take out your baloney sandwich. My baloney has a first name.

Don't let pride mess you up. Go to that water fountain. Pour yourself some water. That's your drink. You got your sandwich.

Maybe you got some little carrots or something in there for your little something beside the sandwich. And then you got your water. Man, you got yourself a three course meal. And let them broke folk going out there trying to impress Sally. And meanwhile, you're taking what you would spend at the restaurant and you're throwing it toward your debts.

Dave Ramsey and then we'll teach you how to do it. Snowball effect and all that stuff. And you knock out that first at lowest balance. And then you take everything you've been putting toward that and put it toward the next one and all of that. And there's a systematic way that you can get yourself out. You got yourself in. God's going to bless you to get yourself out. Don't let the devil tell you you can't get out. The devil is a liar. The earth is the Lord's the fullness thereof. He can bless me to get out of this mess I made. Because he's the God of hookups.

He is the God that will do exceeding abundantly above all that I can ask or think. Not only that, but in the year of Jubilee, forfeited properties were returned to original owners. That's what happened in the year of Jubilee.

Forfeited property was returned to original owners in Israel. And so in the New Testament time when we're serving God, I don't know what I've lost that God might want to bring back into my life. But if I'll be faithful here and now, God has a way. God is a God of restoration. And I'm telling you can believe God to restore some things. And I know some folk I've heard people say, Oh, but I lost my marriage. My husband walked off from me and I was praying for restoration.

He never came back. Well, that might not be the blessing. Because until folks hearts change, why would you want that mess back? Unless his heart changes, he's not going to be ready to treat you the way you need to be treated. And so if he's gone, you just let him be where he is. Amen. Pray for his soul. Pray for God to get his heart together, get his life right. But trust me, not everything that left you was a blessing. Some things that left you, the blessing was that they left.

So quit pining over the one that got away. Some of y'all need to say, Lord, thank you. He got away. Oh, glory. Hallelujah. He wanted that girl over there. He wanted that thought. If you don't know what I just said, ask the young people after service.

Ask the young people they hook you up disasters. What did past mean when he said thought as one of the young people on your way out? That's after benediction talk. Don't send me any emails this week. I don't believe you said that in the house of the Lord. Pray for me.

That's all I can tell you. Pray for me. But I meant what I said. You need to believe God for some divine hookups in your life. And not all of them will come supernaturally, but he'll bless your natural processes.

God will take your natural disciplines and bless them and multiply them and he'll get you where you need to be. In Malachi 3 10, God says, Bring the full tithe into the storehouse so that there will be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord of hosts. See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure. I hope Pastor Paul has encouraged you to trust God to deliver on that promise.

Well, the last thing Jesus told his disciples before he ascended into heaven was to go out into all the world and make disciples of all nations. A great way for you to do that is by becoming a partner with Pastor Paul in this Destined for Victory ministry, joining him and sharing the hope we have in Christ with as many people as we can. All it takes is a monthly pledge of $20 or more, donations that will be used to help Pastor Paul share the gospel all over the world. And then as our way of saying thanks for your partnership, we'll send you a few welcome gifts, including one of Pastor Paul's most popular CDs, The Best of Let My People Smile.

That's Pastor Paul at his very best combining his great sense of humor with the timeless truths of God's word. So call 855-339-5500 and find out more about how to become a Destined for Victory partner. Or mail your gift letting us know you wish to become a partner.

The address is Destined for Victory, post office box 1767 Fremont, California 94538. And you can also become our partner on 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's book, Lessons from the Vineyard. In this book, he inspires believers to become attractive to others so that we can glorify God by bearing godly fruit.

That's Lessons from the Vineyard, a book from Pastor Paul and our gift to you by request for your generous donation of $25 or more to Destined for Victory. I came to tell you in the midst of the feelings of it, there is a truth that undergirds it, that Christmas is really about Christ. You can't even say the word without talking about Christ.

It is Christmas. It is Christ's mass. It is because Jesus came to be the sacrifice for our sins that we have the right to be saved. That is next time in Pastor Paul Shepherd's message, The Best Gift Ever. Until then, enjoy your weekend, but remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.