Paul, I'm suggesting to you that you and I got to start living that way and thinking that way. I'm a solution looking for a problem God will send me into.
Some of y'all are complaining, Lord, every time I turn around, I'm in some troubling situation. That's why God has you there. If it seems God is always sending you into problems, it's because He's called you to be a problem solver. Hello and welcome to Destined for Victory, where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard.
Well, God didn't place you in a job just to make money. He has called you and equipped you to make a difference, to be light and salt to people in desperate need of both. With God's help, Daniel was able to be salt and light during his captivity in Babylon. His story continues today. Remember to come see us at pastorpaul.net to listen to any recent message on demand, including today's.
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Now, with today's Destined for Victory message, being good stewards of success, here is Pastor Paul. Daniel chapter 4 is one of the most unique chapters you'll run across in all of Scripture. And here's why: because it is autobiographical. It is a man giving his testimony And the guy giving the testimony is not a Hebrew, not one of God's children that were taken to Babylon in captivity. Rather, it is the king Nebuchadnezzar himself.
Look at the first three verses, for instance, of Daniel chapter 4. King Nebuchadnezzar. To the peoples, nations, and men of every language who live in all the world. May you prosper. greatly.
It is my pleasure. To tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me. How great are his signs? How mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom.
His dominion endures from generation to generation. You say, I'm used to reading testimonies. Yeah, but you used to reading them from David? From Solomon. You're used to hearing God's people talk about how great God is.
This is a pagan king. This is Nebuchadnezzar. This is the guy who, when he invaded Jerusalem, he carried off God's people into captivity. This is the guy who's responsible for Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and so many other Hebrews living in his land. When they first met him, he knew nothing about God.
He honors and worships false gods. He oversees a vast kingdom. Remember back in chapter 2, we found out that in the dream he had, God was saying to him, You are the image of gold. You are the head of the image. Your kingdom rules over all the earth.
And this guy has come to know over the course of chapters 1, 2, and 3, which span several decades, this guy has come to know God in a very dynamic way. You would expect this testimony from one of the saints. But here is a pagan king talking about God is a miracle working, signs and wonders working, his kingdom is eternal. A king is saying, God, you are the one to be worshipped and adored, and I want to give a testimony about how great you are. You know what this says to me?
That here in the 21st century, as we're preparing for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and He is soon to come. When you look at the signs, all you have to do is check them off. When Paul said in the last days perilous times would come and began to describe what the perilous times would look like, when you get a chance, look at that list and you'll be able to check off everything on the list. It's happening now.
So the Lord is soon to come. And as we're preparing for that, I want to let you know that I believe just as a pagan king came to know God, his final testimony in scripture, the last time we hear from Nebuchadnezzar is here in chapter 3. Because the subsequent chapters were given to us in the time of his successors, the guy who threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the furnace. The last thing we hear about him is: God is good. He sounded like one of the saints.
God is good all the time. And all the time God is good. How did he come to arrive at that kind of insight? How is it that we're reading the autobiographical testimony of a pagan king giving glory to God? It happened because of the influence and ministry of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Four men changed his life. Here's why I'm pointing this out. Here's why I didn't want to preach this chapter. I wanted to talk you through it. Because you and I are living in a day now where there are Nebuchadnezzars all around us.
There are rulers who know nothing about God, not only rulers of earthly kingdoms, but there are bosses. There are people who are the movers and shakers all around us. We work for tech companies, we work for big giant corporations. Most of them are not headed by believers talking about God is good. We live in the day just like these men lived, and here's the first thing I want you to know: I want you to understand that God has called us to change lives in His name.
You and I are called just like these four men from Jerusalem made a difference and changed Nebuchadnezzar.
So the last thing we hear from him in the Bible is he's talking about the greatness of our God. In the same way, you and I are supposed to have that impact in our world. You and I are supposed to be life changers in our world. We're supposed to be making a difference on our jobs. We're supposed to be making a difference in the sphere of influence God has given to us.
In other words, God has placed you where you are so that you can be a difference maker.
Now, I want you to think about that where your job is concerned. It'll change the way you go to work. When you figure it out that God didn't give you that job just so you can make money. Nah, he gave it so you can make money. You do need some coins.
Isn't that right? Is anybody working on your job? And you said, no, no, I don't need a chat. Any of y'all, let me see your hands. Don't need technology.
You can just say that, put that towards something else. Anybody? I'm waiting to see a hand. Nobody offered to work for free at your job? Of course not.
I love y'all. I pastor this church. I do it well, do it from the bottom of my heart. But I'm so glad I get a check twice a month. Cause it got bills.
In Jesus' name. Come on, some of y'all, you got this?
So it's okay to make money, but you're not there just to make money. You're there to make a difference. You had to be a life changer. You're there so that people who don't know anything about God, by virtue of the role you play in their life, they'll come to know Him. You hear what I'm saying?
That is literally what you and I are called to do. God has you where you are for such a time as this. And you need to get used to the idea that your job is to wake up in the morning and say, okay, Lord, I don't want to just do my work and fulfill my job description so I can get a check. I want you to be pleased with the assignments you've given me as I live from day to day.
So, you need to get up, go to work, and say, okay, Lord, make sure I don't miss any divine appointments today. Make sure I say what I need to say and go where I need to go and do what I need to do. Lord, make sure that my living today is not in vain, but it's used to your glory and to your honor. And the way you do that is you just live and you honor God and you do His will and you listen to His voice.
So, when He tells you what to do, when He leads you in a certain direction by His Spirit, you simply follow where He leads and He does all the rest. These four men changed the course of history in that they changed a pagan king of one of the most important nations in all the earth. We're called to make a difference. Here's the way Jesus put it in Matthew chapter 5, verse 13. He said, You are the salt of the earth.
But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.
Instead, they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father. In heaven. It's time for us, saints of God. to realize we're here to make a difference.
Don't ever be one of those people say well I don't want to I don't want to stir things up We talking about I'm a stirrer. I'm not supposed to be out getting on people's nerves and picking fights. But I am going to stir things up just by virtue of standing when everybody else is bowing, as we saw in the previous chapter. I'm going to stir things up everywhere I go. When nobody else can interpret the dream, God's going to give me the interpretation of the dream.
That's the way you and I have to learn to live our lives. I am a walking solution. And God will send me to some problems.
So I can take care of them in his name. Wouldn't that make you go to work different and say, Lord, what problems am I supposed to solve for this company today? Wouldn't that be something if you and I finally figured it out that God will bless that job for your sake? He'll bless it because you're there. They can't afford to fire you.
You can't afford to lay me off. I'm the reason you made it this far. Wouldn't that be something? Wouldn't you have a different attitude? Then let me go in here and save this job today.
We go in here and keep these people from folding. Lord, they always need me. Let me get on in there.
Well, I'm suggesting to you that you and I got to start living that way and thinking that way. I'm a solution looking for a problem God will send me into.
Some of y'all are complaining, Lord. Every time I turn around, I'm in some troubling situation. That's why God has you there. And so you need to begin to think in terms of what God is doing. And just as these four men changed that king's life, you and I are supposed to be life changers as we move along.
It's supposed to become normative for people to say, ooh, I don't know what I would do without you. You say, yeah, God hooked you up by giving you me. Do you know that's what marriage is supposed to be? Not in my notes, but let me just go on and say it. Don't go away, we have more of today's Destined for Victory message coming up next.
But we want to thank all of you who support Destined for Victory with your prayers and financial support, gifts that help us keep this media ministry going. If you'd like to join us in our mission to take the gospel to all corners of the globe, please consider making a safe and secure donation at our website, pastorpaul.net, or simply give us a call at 855-339-5500. 855-339-5500.
Some of life's biggest blessings come just after we take the next small step of faith. Here's Pastor Paul with the rest of today's message: being good stewards of our success. Marriage is supposed to be a solution God blessed you with. And huh? Sisters, y'all need to be living so that you can say to your husband, boy, you are so fortunate to be married to me.
That's where y'all supposed to be. Bible said you are helped suitable for him. You're supposed to be able to look at him every now and say, Aren't you glad you had me? And notice, you're not perfect yet, but God's getting you better. But he's not gonna wait for you to get perfect before he uses you.
I love that about God. God loves to use imperfect vessels.
So don't think, well, I'm not qualified yet. I can't do what Pastor's talking about, being a solution and help out and so important in my sphere of influence. I got some issues. God will bless you while He's still getting your issues together. Isn't that good news?
That better be good news if you don't say amen. I think you think you don't have issues. Thank you for the amen's over here. The truth is lying over here on this side. Another thing I want to point out.
Here In this chapter, is that God chooses us because we're not special. Look at verse 5 of Daniel chapter 4. The king says, I had a dream that made me afraid. As I was lying in my bed, the images and visions that passed through my mind terrified me.
So I commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be brought before me to interpret the dream. When the magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and diviners came, I told them the dream, and they could not interpret it for me. Finally, Daniel came into my presence. I told you, Solution shows up, and I told him the dream.
Now, skip down to verse 17 after he described the dream. I'll tell you about that in a second. The decision is announced by messengers, the Holy Ones, declare the verdict. Watch this: so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes. and sets over them the lowliest of men.
Focus on that. God gives kingdoms to whoever he wants. If he wants to, he'll set over a kingdom a lowly person. Remember how he did that with Israel through David? When Samuel showed up at Jesse's house to say, The Lord told me I was going to anoint one of your sons who was going to be the next king.
Jesse trots out his biggest, his oldest, his most experienced sons.
Soon as Samuel looked at him, he said, mm-mm. And at one point, he had to tell Jesse: he said, see, the problem is. You're looking on the outward appearance. He said, God doesn't do that. God looks on the heart.
And he's chosen the heart of one of your sons. And Jesse trotted out seven sons. And finally, the prophet said, This is all you got? I know I heard from God. I know He told me to come down here and anoint one of your sons.
And every time one passes by me, there's nothing. And Jesse said, Well, you know, I got my young boy. He out there with the with the sheep. Samuel said, Well, I'm not going to sit down until he comes. And he went and got David.
David runs in, smelling like lambs.
Soon as you can. the prophet sowing. He grabbed his horn of oil. That's the one. Yes.
COP! looks on the heart. And he chooses For the very reason other people ignore you, God chooses you. I can't tell somebody who's sitting here feeling very ordinary, feeling very invisible, feeling very special, feeling like I'm never gonna amount too much. I came to tell you, God is looking at your heart.
And he says, this is the heart of somebody who will not get full of themselves.
So I'm going to use them. He chooses us because we're not special. Here's the way Paul put it in 1 Corinthians 1, beginning at verse 26: Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many were influential.
Not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world. to shame the wise. He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things and the things that are not.
To nullify the things that are, verse 29 says, so that no one may boast. before him. I want to let you know if your heart is right before God, you say, Lord, I just want you to use me for your glory. I won't rob you of your glory. I'm not trying to make a name for myself.
I just want to be in your will. If that's your heart's desire, I came to tell you: God's going to be using you in increasing measure as you continue to live your life for Him. You're going to see God opening doors of opportunity. David never saw himself, you know, people tell you to dream big, dream big. David never dreamed about being a king.
David's trying to figure out how he's going to keep these sheep from being eaten. By some wild animal. That's as big as he could dream. I'm here to tell you: some of you are not dreaming because it hasn't even entered into your heart. What God wants to do.
So the when the world says dream big, that works for some folks. But for others of you, you don't even know how to dream big. You never even thought in those terms. God's going to introduce you to your dream. Like he introduced David.
He's gonna introduce you. David said, Why is this oil being poured on my head? He had no idea. That he was gonna end up a king. But God knew.
I came to tell some of you: God's got plans for you. He hadn't even shown them to you yet because you wouldn't believe him if he showed you. But you got some stuff coming 'cause he's looking at your heart. And he says, that's a man, that's a woman, that's a boy, that's a girl, who when I use them, everybody. Everybody will say, Now, see that?
That was God. That was God. So be okay with not being much. God likes using not much.
Some folk just need to go on and start humbling themselves now because until you get all the way humble, God can't use you the way He wants to.
So, some folk have to come down. Come down to the place where you say, I decrease so that God in my life can increase. You got to bring yourself down because some of y'all, just truth be told, some of y'all were conceited when you got saved. You were a little too full of yourself. You've been that way all your life.
You think you all that? And a bag of chips. Lays, those are the best. And so, God's going to be shrinking you. God's going to be shrinking you, and you got to learn to go low.
Intentionally go low. Intentionally humble yourself. Intentionally decrease.
Now n now the Bible doesn't call you to low self-esteem. What does the Bible say? Paul said in Romans 12: don't think what? More highly of yourself. Then you ought to.
If you're filling out an application for grad school, don't tell them what you're not. You're trying to get into school. Tell them what you are. But some of us have to go down first before we can go up. We have to humble ourselves before God can exalt us in His own time.
Some of y'all are still a little bit impressed with yourself. Come on, you just impress yourself. And that's going to have to change. I got pastors I've met along the way. They got 17 members and already got five armor bearers.
When I meet him, I'm going to say, dude. Nobody's shooting at you. You don't need all that protection. Wrong season. And you get 1700, we can talk.
Seventeen folk, and you got folks standing around you. Uh-uh. This is the season where you need to be hugging everybody you can hug. You need to be loving on everybody you can love on. You're giving the wrong impression.
Cause those folks say, well, if he liked this with 17 members. Don't give him a hundred, he'll have a stroke. I've gone places around the country as the Lord first put me on radio all over the nation, and I started going around doing radio rallies and all that. And I was in one city, and there was a group from our church in that same town. They heard pastors in town, and they came out to where I was ministering.
And they said when they saw at these rallies, you see, at these rallies, people I meet an hour before the service, and then sometime afterwards, meeting and greeting the people, and I'm signing autographs on my books, and I'm taking pictures and kissing babies because that's what the people want. They listen, this is the Pastor Paul we listen to, he's such a blessing, and now I get to see him up close. And so we just fellowship and whatever, whatever they want me to sign, I'm good, I'm out there doing it. And some of our members were standing there, and they said, We didn't know he was famous. Why?
Because around here. I'm Pastor Paul. Ain't nobody coming here for fame? I don't need no picture. I see him every Sunday.
They like, I need a word from God. He can be on the road all he wants, but when he comes back home, he better have a lesson or a sermon that'll help me live my life. Yeah, yeah, that's nice. You wrote some books. What does the Lord say about my life?
Life, yeah, they love you around the country. That's good, praise God. But do you have a word in your mouth? That'll help me live my life. God doesn't call the qualified.
He qualifies the called. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, that means God has called you, not because of your flawlessness, but in spite of your failings. Today's message, Being Good Stewards of Success, is part of Pastor Paul Shepherd's teaching series, Standing for Right in a Wrong World. Look for it online at pastorpaul.net. Yeah.
The summertime is a great time for most of us, a time for us to enjoy better weather and enjoy vacations with family. But for ministries like Destined for Victory, this can be a difficult season when giving declines. That's why your faithful financial support is so appreciated during these months. When you give your generous gift today, we do have a very special resource to share with you, introducing our latest booklet, Overcoming Bitterness. Based on some of Pastor Paul Shepard's best sermons, this message will show you some key strategies to 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 Destined for Victory. You can give by phone by calling 855-339-550. That's 855-339-5500.
Or visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. Or mail your gift to Destined for Victory, post office box 1767, Fremont, California, 94538.
Some of you all have had. A grace period. I don't know the time, the length in your life. You've had a grace period. And God is saying Time's up.
You change today? or you reap the consequences. That's tomorrow in our continuing Destined for Victory message: being good stewards of success. Until then, though, remember. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.
In Christ, you are destined for victory.
