U And I came to tell you that sometimes in our lives, we need something that cannot be produced from the human mind or spirit. Every now and then, you get to a place in your life where you need God to intervene. World-renowned doctors lose patients, decorated military leaders lose battles, and sometimes the only way to save a life or win a war is for God to intervene. Hello and welcome to another great day here on Destined for Victory, where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard.
Well, I'm sure you know by now that our best isn't always quite good enough, but we're in good company. Today, Pastor Paul takes us to the book of Daniel and to a time in Daniel's life when divine intervention was his only hope. The series is called Standing for Right in a Wrong World. Look for it online at pastorpaul.net. And while you're there, you can listen to any of our recent messages on demand, including today's.
That's pastorpaul.net.
Now, with today's Destined for Victory message, I'm equipped for this. Here is Pastor Paul.
Now, look again at this text. Look at, for instance, verse 5. The king replied to the astrologers, I I have decided that as I need to deal with this thing that's troubling me, I need you all to put up or shut up. He said, I'm tired of having quote-unquote wise men who I have to give you information before you can give me a word. He said, no more days like that.
I decided. This is a firm decision, he said. If you don't tell me what my dream was. And interpret it. I'm gonna have you cut.
into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble. He says Uh-uh, if you so wise. Tell me what I dreamed. In other words, I'm tired of little just general wisdom. I'm tired of what you think.
You ever get to a place in your life where you don't need to know what the folk in your life think? If you haven't been there, keep on living. You're gonna hit a season where, when people start telling you, well, see, here's what happened in my situation. I don't need to know what you think. What you think isn't going to help me.
And in this case, the king said, No, prove to me that you're in touch with something beyond humanity. Prove it by telling me what I dreamed. I'm not going to drop you hints. I'm not going to give you three hints figured out from no, no. Tell me what I dream.
And if you don't, I'm going to cut you up. Man, that's cold. But that's how desperate he was to make sure that what they were going to say would come from the same place the dream came from. He wanted divine inspiration.
Now, he didn't fully understand what the divine was, he didn't understand God. He's a pagan king. But he said, Y'all say that you are wise, y'all say that you're enchanters, y'all say that you have supernatural powers and insight, so prove it. Tell me what a dreamed. Man, that's troubling to these dudes, especially with that ultimatum he gave.
And I came to tell you that sometimes in our lives, we need something that cannot be produced from the human mind or spirit. Every now and then, you get to a place in your life where you need God to intervene. You need God to speak. You need God to move. You need God to change circumstances.
You know, you can't use human instrumentality. There come times when you need a word. Anyone ever needed a word from the Lord? You needed a move of God. You needed a supernatural endowment, a supernatural blessing, supernatural instruction, supernatural ability.
And you just can't find it anywhere but in God. That's where these people were, but I want you to know. That because these four Hebrew men who serve Jehovah the true and living God, because they have been taken captive into the land of Babylonia, that the king doesn't know, but his answer is right there among his captives. How do we know that God has equipped them to help the king gather this? Go back to 1st chapter, verse 17, says, To these four young men, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, to them God gave knowledge.
And understanding of all kinds of literature and learning, and watch this. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. This is chapter one before the trouble shows up in chapter two. King doesn't know it, but he's got men of God in his midst, and they can cover what he needs. I came to tell you, you got to be kingdom first because God put you in the world to be able to address some problems, not only for yourself, but for other people.
We're called to be salt and light in the world. I came to tell you, you're supposed to be somebody's answer. You're supposed to have somebody's blessing. You are supposed to be used of God to meet somebody's need. You are supposed to be the head and not the tail.
You're supposed to be above and not beneath. You are supposed to be the lender and not the borrower. God wants to put you in a position where you can bless somebody. Because your kingdom first. And these dudes have already been blessed.
The problem hasn't shown up, and they already have the solution. I came to tell you that it's time for you to stop being the problem. and start solving the problem.
Some of y'all, you ought by now you ought to be tired of being the problem. You ought to be tired that the trouble in your life got invited personally by you, got introduced personally by your dumb decisions. Come on, come on.
Now, we got to be honest to get the blessing. There's a blessing in this message, but you're going to have to be honest with yourself. Haven't you been the problem at times? Has anybody in the room other than me been the problem at times? You are other people's problems.
When they look at you, they don't see solutions, they see a problem. Big problem. Persistent problem, chronic problem. Get on my nerves, problem. Oh Lord, here you come, problem.
God got us. To this place in our lives where now. Our problems didn't kill us. And now God has put us in a position where we can decide to no longer be the problem. And to begin to be the solution.
Experience solutions in our own lives and be the solutions for other people's lives. And I came with a word from the Lord that God has already equipped you. You can begin to say, from this day forward, I've chosen to be kingdom first. I've chosen to be a follower of God, sold out to Jesus Christ. And so henceforth, now and forevermore, I shall be a solution and not the problem.
You need to declare that over your life. I am the solution. I'm not the problem. I've been the problem before, but God has transformed me. I'm now the solution.
May I introduce you to the solution? Because God wants to use you for his own purposes. When trouble shows up, he's already equipped you to overcome it.
Next time trouble shows up in your life, say, I got this. I'm equipped for this. This isn't taking me out. Whole lot of stuff could have taken me out. God saw to it that it wouldn't take me out, and now He's made me a blessing.
He's made me a blessing for my own life and a blessing for other people's lives as well. Look at Daniel's response.
So we just read earlier that the king sent out folk to find all the magicians and enchanters and astrologers and wise men.
So when the guy shows up to where they are, shows up to Daniel's place. Daniel said. The king said, What? And he said, explain this to me. I don't get it.
Why has such an urgent decree been issued? Ariok stops and explains it to him. And he tells him the whole thing.
Well, he had this troubling dream, and he's tired of people giving him these little so-called wise things to do. This dream, he's demanding for somebody to get in touch with the supernatural and tell him what he dreamed. He doesn't want to hear people's empty thoughts anymore. I want somebody who is in touch with God.
Now, God can speak through people. But you know when it's God. You ever come to church and it sounds like the pastor had just been at your house? Watching what you were doing. And watching what was going on in your life, and you at a certain point in the message, you said, Who has he been talking to?
I told you, I have been confronted on more than one or two occasions in the course of my pastoral experience where folk are, they come to me angry.
Well, look like they wanna do something. I'm going to have to get me some armor bearers as I move more out into the prophetic because folk come looking like they want to do something to me. I need some of y'all who sanctified but packing. Help a brother out. You know how to do praise the Lord and back up at the same time.
And the funny thing is, most of the folk who have come at me like that over the years. The real question I have is, who are you? Every now and then there's been a member, somebody I know. But more often than not, it was somebody I was like, well, first of all, let's introduce ourselves. You know me because you're sitting up here listening to me preach, but I don't know you.
And bless your heart. Let's get your ego in check. I got enough to do in my life. Where I really don't have the time or inclination. To go get some private investigator.
To follow you around, find out what's going on in your life, come back and tell me so I can get up and pretend like I gotta preach about it. The Holy Ghost was already at your house. He already saw what you were doing. He saw what's going on in your life, the decisions you're making, and all of that. And while I was preparing my message, in some cases, he gave me a point that spoke directly to it.
And in other cases, I got an inspiration while I was preaching.
Sometimes you weren't even in my notes. But while I've heard myself preaching, I heard myself say something. Oh, it's happened a few times. And I thought to myself, where did that come from? The Holy Spirit is speaking.
Still ahead, the second half of today's Destin for Victory message featuring the teaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard. As always, you can hear any of our recent messages on demand at pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net.
Listen and subscribe to the podcast at Spotify, at Apple Podcasts, or wherever you enjoy podcasts. All of us at Destined for Victory are grateful for your prayers and financial support, gifts that help carry on the ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard. Many are coming to faith in Christ, others are being couraged to persevere through tough times, and friends like you play a key role in every victory. We're in a season of the year where giving to ministries often declines, so your support is greatly appreciated. To give your generous gift now, please visit pastorpaul.net.
That's pastorpaul.net or call 855-339-5500.
Well, Daniel was faced with a tall order, but he was confident because he knew he served a big God. Let's rejoin Pastor Paul for the rest of today's message. I'm equipped for this. We gotta shake the spookiness out of it. When you speak prophetically to somebody, you don't have to, you know, you ever been around these folk who look strange?
They so spiritual, they strange looking. You ever seen him? If that go with me someplaces, I'll show you. People who can't give you a word without first putting their face. Squinting their eyes.
Look like something smells bad in the room. Yea, and the Lord would say unto thee. First of all, what's up with the King James English? Like, God can't say, the Lord says. Yeah, the yay.
God can speak in your normal vernacular. I've heard God use people who speak in broken English. They're not well spoken. And I've heard people who speak for God, and the words aren't put together really well, but it was a word from God. All you have to do is be a vessel.
So the king said, uh-uh, somebody got to tell me what God said. Look at Daniel's response.
After Ariok explained to him the matter, verse 16 of Daniel 2, at this Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, not so that he could sneak out of town. He asked for time so that he might interpret the dream for him. He said, King, give me a minute. And I'm going to tell you what you dreamed. Don't you want to walk in that kind of anointing?
Don't you want to walk in that kind of power? Where you said, just give me a minute. God's going to give me a word for you. I believe if you and I will be kingdom first, we're going to begin to see a release of those kinds of things in our everyday life. You don't have to be somewhere in your spooky closet and all that.
Just as you're living out, see, the closet's a great place to pray wherever you pray in private. That's a great place to commune with God. But the proof that you commune with God is not how much time you spend in prayer, it's what words you come out of the closet with. It's what God can tell you while you're driving down the street. It's what God can tell you while you're on the job, while you're having that conversation at lunch with a co-worker.
It's what God says in the day-to-dayness of life. That's what we need. We need people who are sold out Tuesday afternoon. Thursday morning. Come on, somebody.
I need somebody who doesn't just go to church on the weekend, but who takes the kingdom everywhere they go, Monday through Saturday. And so Daniel said, just give me a time. I'll be back. He told the king, I got you covered. Just give me some time.
How did he know? He was going to get a word because he realized I'm equipped for this. Yeah. I'm equipped to be used. God actually sends me to where trouble is.
Some of you people who have been kingdom first and you're continuing to live that way, you're going to find yourself more and more being sent into trouble.
Now you don't like that. Oh, I d I don't I don't wanna receive that part of the message.
Well, I just showed up while I was praying over this message and getting ready. I just saw some of you being sent into trouble. Things that other folk are running from, you're walking toward. I see you just walking where everybody's fleeing, you're going, and you're walking right into it. Why?
Because you're equipped for it. Look at it in the natural. You ever seen a fire, one of these real big fires, and all the people are fleeing, but the firefighters are going into it. Folk are going that direction. Firefighters are going toward the trouble, toward the hot spot.
Why? Because they're equipped for this. They're going in with what they need to put this fire out. They're going in with what they need to rescue people who are trapped. And God is going to send you as one of his special forces.
Special forces in the military go where nobody else wants to be. They head toward the trouble. They practice unconventional warfare. You ever talk to a special force, anybody in the special forces, in any branch of the armed services, they all have different names, the Army Rangers and all that kind of stuff. But it's all the same, they learn to practice unconventional warfare.
They don't have to, well, ain't nothing in the book to deal with this. That's why I'm a ranger. That's why I'm a seal. That's why I'm whatever else is out there. Trained to do what's not in the manual.
But they get the job done. I came to tell you, you need to leave this message, realizing God has made you a green beret. Yeah. Trouble's going to start finding you. Troubling situation.
You're going to start having people talk to you about trouble in their life. And while they're sitting there weeping, you just keep yourself from smiling. Because you don't want them to think you're insensitive to their trouble, but you already have an assurance. God had them talking to me because He's going to use me to give them a word to deal with this. You don't have to believe me.
Some of y'all are gonna experience it. You'll be coming back to me in the coming weeks. Pastor, it's sure beginning to happen. And after a while, you'll start saying, why are all the troubled people coming to me? Did somebody put something on Craig's list?
Say you got a problem you can't deal with. Call this number, go talk to this person. No, it's God. Sending you as special forces. Danny said, just give me a little time.
I'm going to get you your word. What did he need time for? Look at verse 17 of Daniel chapter 2. Verse 17. Then Daniel returned to his house.
and explained the matter to his friends. He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. I love that. You see what happened? What's he gonna do at this time?
He went and got with his boys. Who were his boys? They three other kingdom first folk.
Some of y'all are gonna have to change. Your first line of friends. You're not going to have to throw everybody out of your life who's not kingdom first because, frankly, some of them, you're going to need them in your life so you can teach them what kingdom first looks like. But the people you spend the most prime time with. Have to be folk who live life like you live life.
You gotta find your core, your crew. The folk who can pray you through anything. The people who can get you through your trouble because they serve the same God you serve.
Some of y'all spend all your life taking swimming lessons from drowning people. Trying to get them to teach you how to swim, and they're drowning. And you gotta stop it. They can be in your life somewhere, but you're going to be more and more the solution to what's wrong with them. But you have to find folk who when you are in the thick of it.
When you stepped up and taken the special forces assignment, you need some folk who know how to get through to God. I'm glad I have people. I have a group of folk in my life. I told them in advance, we all have iPhones. An iPhone has a feature where you can designate somebody as a favorite.
And so, when it comes to your do not disturb function, your favorites are automatically exceptions to the rule. On my phone, do not disturb is set for a certain time at night so that no matter who knows my number. My phone won't ring when I'm trying to sleep. Get it? But there's no ring.
And I have a window of time. If you call me between this time and this time, y'all say, What is it? I ain't telling you. Because this time and this time, it will not ring. But the favorites Are the exceptions?
Where my favorites group, if they call me at 2, is ringing. 2 a.m., it's ringing. Call me at 3.30, it's ringing. Guess what? Everybody in the favorites is either a relative.
Some folk that I need to be able to reach me 24 hours, and my Shadrachs, Meshachs, and Abednegos. You got to have you some favorites. In your life, I don't know what you Samsung people do, but we are. We are iPhone folk who are in the center of God's will. We.
I thought I'd throw some mess in just real quick. You got to decide there's some warriors who are down with you no matter what. I had somebody ask me once when I made this kind of point. Pastor, now where do you find people like that?
So you build those relationships. You tell them what they gonna be. You already see the camaraderie develop, so you meet and you hit it off. The first day I met one of my best friends, the night I met him, I was doing a service and it was a sponsorship for the radio station, and they took me to his church. in that area.
And the night I met him, I said, I need this guy in my life. It was just the way we connected. And after the service, we sat and talked. And by the end of that, we were exchanging information. I don't know what he was thinking, but I was thinking, this guy should play a key role in my life.
And he's played it ever since. But when you meet people, you then have to Tell them, here's what I need.
Now tell me what you need. The worst thing in the world is to have somebody scratching you where you don't itch. Did that sink in? Did you get that? You got folk in there like always talking, but missing the itching part.
Do over here. No, that's not it. But let God bring people into your life you can tell anything to.
So glad you stopped by for today's Destined for Victory message. I'm equipped for this. If you are a regular listener to this program, you know that it was always Pastor Paul's passion to equip us for a victorious life in Jesus. And it's why I'm pleased to tell you about an outstanding resource from Destined for Victory, our brand new booklet, Overcoming Bitterness. Based on some of Pastor Paul's best sermons, this message will show you some key strategies for removing bitterness from your heart once and for all.
As you follow along, you'll gain strategic insight into ways to cultivate hope and reclaim the joy of the Lord's salvation. Again, that's Overcoming Bitterness, a helpful booklet for anyone who still struggles to let go of past wounds and press on toward his or her victory in Christ. Request your copy today for your generous gift to Destin for Victory. You can give by phone by calling 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-5500 or visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online.
You can also mail your gift to Destined for Victory, post office box 1767, Fremont, California, 94538. Here at Destined for Victory, we believe that prayer can move mountains, and today we'd like to pray for you. Please use the contact feature at the top of our homepage at pastorpaul.net and share your prayer request with us. That's pastorpaul.net.
O peoples, nations, and men of every language, as soon as you hear The sound of the horn, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar. has set up Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing fire. Brownness. That was the rule. Join us tomorrow when we find out who was willing to break it and to see what happened next.
But until then, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.
