There are things that tend to position themselves between The right now. and the destiny we plan to arrive at. And I want to talk to that issue, especially because Sometimes our opposition can be fierce. can be foreboding. The things that come against us.
if you're not careful, can cause you to live in fear. Thanks so much for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepard.
Well, if you want to achieve your future plans, you'll first need to have a right now plan. one that includes a strategy for dealing with the opposition that is sure to come your way. Today, you'll be reminded that fear can often be your own worst enemy and that it competes directly with your faith. Today's message is straight ahead. Remember to come see us at pastorpaul.net to listen to any recent message on demand, including today's.
That's pastorpaul.net. Subscribe to the podcast at Spotify or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.
Now, with today's Destined for Victory message, when opposition comes, here is Pastor Paul. Whatever you Want to get done for God, whatever you want to get done to improve your life and the life of your family and loved ones, whatever you want to do, that is a God-glorifying step to take. I want to encourage you: now is the time to move out and don't let fear stand in your way.
So I've entitled this part of this series, When Opposition Comes. First thing I want to do, I want to establish just three points, and I'll be done with you in this message. The first point is, you are called according to God's purpose. Therefore, you will face opposition. That's the first thing I need you to know.
Because sometimes people act like they are surprised when opposition shows up. Not you, but somebody on your role is shocked when they find opposition because a lot of people are like, why would somebody oppose this? This is a good idea. This is a good thing I want to do. Why would people come against that?
I need you to know right now at the beginning of this message, you need to quit being shocked when folk come against you, when circumstances come against you, when enemies rise up against you, when people who don't hardly know you suddenly show up to stand against you. Against you. I don't know if you've experienced that, but sometimes opposition comes from people you know well. I'm going to cover that in another point. But let me tell you: the other times I've been opposed by folk, and first thing in my mind is: who are you?
Yeah. I've had folk that seem like almost total strangers. Where did you come from? And why does what I'm doing matter in your life? Anybody like me ever had somebody show up and you say, first of all, who are you?
And why are you asserting yourself in something that really isn't your business? This is A and B. You need to see your way out. But there are a lot of folks who see their way in Because you have something that you want to do for God. You want to do that, God has put in your heart, and they show up to oppose you.
I just want to make sure you know you're called according to God's purpose. That's why you're going to have opposition. In other words, you got to tie this to the fact that you're fulfilling God's purpose means the enemy of your soul is dead set against you fulfilling that purpose. This is a spiritual fight at the end of the day. Please remember what Paul said in Ephesians 6: He said, We're not wrestling against flesh and blood.
We're wrestling against principalities and powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual wickedness in high places. And this is a spiritual fight. It often comes through people. But it is a spiritual fight. Just because you can call their name and you know their address doesn't mean it's not spiritual.
The enemy knows how to use folk and he's good at it. In fact, he can use Christians who aren't prayerful. Oh, I just said something. I've had some of my worst opposition has come from folk who name the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, if you ask them, they feel like it's almost their calling to come against me.
Because they're carnal and they're thinking in carnal terms rather than spiritual terms. And I want you to know opposition comes directly to you because you're called according to purpose, and the enemy of your soul is dead set against you fulfilling that purpose. The enemy doesn't want you to ever hear, well done, good and faithful servant. He wants you to quit. He wants you to give up.
And therefore, you need to know nothing has gone wrong. Please remember what the Bible says. Jesus said in John 16, verse 33: In this world you shall have tribulation. He said, But be of good cheer. Why?
Because I've overcome the world. In this world, you're going to have opposition. You're going to have tribulation. Stuff's going to go wrong. Stop.
Buying into poor theology when some folk say, Hey, well, now that I'm with Jesus, I'm just always above and never underneath, and always you got to qualify that. First of all, they're quoting from another covenant. And you need to understand, Jesus himself said you're going to go through tribulation.
So, you're not always going to be above, you're going to be underneath, but God will get you above. If you will walk by faith and not by sight, and follow Him, He'll get you to where you're going. In other words, he didn't promise you wouldn't go through the valley. He just said, I'm going to bring you out of the valley and take you to a prepared place. In this world, you're going to have tribulation.
Stop thinking something has gone wrong when, in fact, I've come to know when I have the opposition coming against me the hardest, I know I'm close to something good. I just decided y'all wouldn't be messing with me. You demons wouldn't be messing with me as much as y'all are if something good wasn't about to happen that you're trying to circumvent. And so I almost get encouraged now. Like, whoo, something good is gonna happen here because look at all of this.
I mean, demons just lined up. When one leaves, here come another one. They just lined up stage left waiting to enter your life. And they want to come in and wreak havoc, but you have got to be fearless, and you've got to say, The Lord is my light, my salvation. Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life.
So I'm not going to be afraid. You got to choose to not walk in fear. Jesus said you're going to have tribulation. Paul picked it up in 2 Timothy 3:12. He said, All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
If you desire to live godly in Christ, you're going to be persecuted.
Now, we live in a country where we have religious freedom to an extent. And so you got to understand we're not suffering in the same way that many of our brothers and sisters around other parts of the world are suffering. There are people in jail right now, all they did was went to church. There are countries because it's forbidden to gather to worship, and they are in jail. Pastors are in jail, life sentences, and all they did was convene God's people.
And I want to tell you, we need to salute their faith by making sure if they can stand for Christ in the midst of that type of severe persecution, you and I here in America and other countries that are listening to this message, we can certainly take our stand for Jesus. And don't worry about the persecution. If you're going to persecute me because I'm saved, that's good. That's a medal of honor as far as I'm concerned. If all you have to fight me with is that I'm doing something the Lord wants me to do and you don't like it, I take that as a compliment.
Don't go away. We have more of today's Destined for Victory message coming up next. 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 during these difficult summer months. And 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 give us a call at 855-339-5500. Again, 855-339-5500.
The world calls it situational ethics. It's really just an excuse to do what you want when you want. Here's Pastor Paul with the rest of today's message: when opposition comes. If you work on a job and they want you to lie as part of your job, part of your duty to Christ is to say, no, no, I'm a truth teller. I'm a truth teller.
I told you years ago, a friend of mine talked about someone who said, On my job, they told me the boss said, when so-and-so calls, tell them I'm not here. She said, I can't do that. Said, why? What are you talking about? Just tell him I'm not here.
I don't want to talk to him. He says, I understand you don't want to talk to him, but I'm not going to tell him you're not here. Said, why? I said, because you're here. I can't do that.
I'm a truth teller. God is listening to me when I talk. See, some of y'all got to get to that place where your faith is at real. The fact of the matter is, we all need to have a strong enough resolve to do right where we don't practice situational ethics. Situational ethics is, well, it depends on what's going on at the time.
And let me see how, because you know, at the end of the day, if I lose my job, how am I going to glorify God? How am I going to give my tithe? Where you come up with a crazy rationale like that? I'm gonna disobey God so I can pay. The Bible said obedience is better than sacrifice.
And so, what you have to learn to do is stand strong. If your job wants you to lie, this lady said, I can't do that. She said, I tell you what. She said, I'm willing to say he's unavailable. No, I don't want, he said, I don't want them to know I'm there because unavailable, they'll know that I'm here.
She said, The only way I'll tell them you're not here is if they call, I will put them on. Hold just a moment, please. I'll buzz your office and say, So-and-so is calling. Do you want to leave? True story.
Do you want to leave? That's how committed to truth she was. And after he saw that level of faith, he said, you're right. And she didn't lose her job. But let me tell you something.
Fact of the matter is, sometimes you might lose your job for standing for right. Come on, somebody. If people want you to do wrong and you're committed to doing right, you have to be willing to suffer. But opposition is going to come. The word of God from Genesis to Revelation, just read anywhere, just open your Bible, start reading.
Sooner or later, you're going to come across an example of somebody who did right, and it cost them some price. Show me a Nehemiah. I'll show you a Sam Ballad and a Tobiah. Who show up just out the clear blue because they hear he wants to build.
Some people hate that you want to build, they don't want you to do anything but be part of their agenda. And we are builders of the kingdom of God and the truth of God. And so some people just resent that this man wanted to build and Sambio and Tobiah show up wanting to cause trouble about something they have nothing to do with. As he started building, first they were just ridiculed. Later on, they went from ridicule, they said, This is starting to really go up and be something.
We better go talk him out of this. And they came, folk will visit you. to come against you. They came from out of town. Standing outside the wall.
There he is, building the wall, and he's standing outside the wall. They say, Come on down, we got a meeting, and we want you to attend.
Now am I called down?
Some of y'all gotta learn to call down from where you are. He called down and said, I'm not coming. It's no, no, it's an important meeting. We really need you here. Read my lips.
I'm not coming. That's what you got to do. Because opposition is going to come, you're called according to purpose, and stop being surprised when folks show you who they are, believe them. I'm trying to get folk to believe people.
Some of y'all are still in denial. I don't believe that. Yes, believe them. They're that evil. They're that agendas driven.
Believe it and take your stand against it. There is no cakewalk from promise to destiny. God gives you a promise or something, a goal in your heart, a dream, a vision, something He puts a burden, whatever it is, He gives you that. Between that promise and its fulfillment, I need you to understand there's going to be all kinds of craziness. Don't be surprised when craziness breaks out because you're trying to do something good.
That's point number one. It's going to happen. You're going to experience opposition. Number two, opposition often comes multiplied. You know It would be okay if trouble came in single file.
This trouble comes in and the rest of the trouble has to stay off stage. To you deal with that, and then the next one. But how many have lived long enough to find trouble likes to bring company with it into your life?
So, not only do you have people problems.
Now you got Money problems along with the people who are giving me a problem. You ever had real estate problems while you got money problems, while you got people problems? You ever had kids acting crazy while you got regular people problems and money problems? You ever had parents' drama? You ever had marital drama?
You ever had your spouse that you stood there, they stood there and said they would love you through thick and thin till death, and then neither one of y'all has died and they acting crazy. All kinds of stuff can break out in your life, and it comes in duplicate and triplicate. It will often show up with company. There's an example of that. I won't read it in the interest of time, but when you get a chance, look at Joshua chapter 11, and you will find Joshua is in the midst of conquering of Canaan.
And so, in the earlier chapters, you see him do conquests on the east side of Jordan. You also see conquests in the southern region of the promised land.
So, by the time you get to Joshua 11, he has conquered the southern region and the regions east of the Jordan. And the kings of the territories on the northern side of the promised land of Canaan said, We heard about what these folk did down south and over on the east side of Jordan, and they got together. When you look at Joshua chapter 11, a bunch of kings got together, they don't necessarily like each other, but they said, Unless we band together, all of us are going to be wiped out. And so they got together, several kings there in Joshua 11, and said, We don't want to see happen here in the north what happened in the south and east of the Jordan. And they got together.
So many of them responded because they had a common interest.
Sometimes folk have a common interest to take you out, and they'll lay down their differences with each other. I don't know if you've had it happen. If you haven't, keep on living. Folk can hate you more than they hate each other, and they'll get together with each other temporarily. Just to come against you.
That's what happened, and the result was a well-put-together alliance. In fact, the Bible says in verse 4 of Joshua 11, it said, The people who gathered were like the sand on the seashore, and they had many horses and chariots. Like the sand on the city, that's a whole lot of folk. When you look out and you can't see anything but people. And all of them against you.
That's what Joshua is facing. But this message is about not fearing. It is about the fact that you're going to have opposition, so don't worry about it. Make sure, even when you see your opposition multiply, it doesn't trigger fear in you. And so here's what they did, and here's what you need to do.
They went to the Lord, said, Okay, God, you see what's happening here. Give us a word. God speaks up and says, Here is the word of the Lord. By this time tomorrow. They all gonna be taken care of.
God said, Yeah, I see it. You got to know when opposition comes against you, you're not the only one seeing it, the Lord Himself sees it. And because you're called according to purpose, the Lord Himself has a vested interest in you winning. And so the word was, by this time, tomorrow.
Now, I would love to tell all of y'all listening to this message that that's your rhame of word for right now. But let me just say: if that's a word for you right now, you got to make sure you know that tomorrow isn't always 24 hours. Weeping may endure for a night. But joy comes in the morning. But you got to understand the morning season Folllows the night season, and the night season can go for a while.
Anybody had a protracted, long... Night six, oh, thank you for some honesty. I see my heavy, my super duper faith people, I don't receive that. I believe my trouble is going to dry up by morning. Bless your heart.
You go on and walk in that faith. But if by chance It doesn't get taken care of by tomorrow morning in the terms of the calendar. Just know your night season can run for a while, but when the Lord decides he's turning this thing around, that's your morning. I came to tell you morning is coming. I can't tell you when your morning is going to hit.
Sometimes, even when it's delayed, it seems delayed to you. God's working even in that. He does not bring us out quickly all the time because sometimes he needs to do a work in the dark. And the night season has its own work to fulfill. You meet people in the dark.
Don't believe me, ask Joseph. He'd have never met the butcher and the baker. If he had not been in jail for years.
Well, he wasn't talking about, I'm just believing, I'm just confessing, I'm coming out of this jail. He was there for years for a crime he didn't commit.
Now, talk about your sense of justice and fairness. How does God let his child linger in prison for years for something they didn't even do? See, some of y'all think I've told you before, but it bears repeating now.
Some of y'all got to get it. God is just, the Bible doesn't say he's fair.
Now, that might feel troubling you. Ooh, I don't like the way that feels.
Well, let me help you understand it. Fair is not a Bible concept. Fair is a human concept. We came up with fair. We want everything fair.
If you get it, I Yeah. I don't want you to be able to get anything out of it. I want fair.
Some of y'all parent like that. Fair, everybody, get.
So the obedient child and the disobedient child, same thing. I grew up in different days.
So, y'all go on and do that. Christmas time, you just load them all up. No matter how they mind you, what you said, you just go on and give them everything, all the expensive shoes, all the, you go right on. I grew up in different days.
I grew up in days where you could come with your Christmas list all you want, but all year long, that had been lists on the refrigerator. I need some refrigerator children. There have been lists on the refrigerator all year long. These are your chores. This is what you're supposed to do.
And see, we grew up around some cold-blooded folks. See, now y'all believe in fairness and all that. We grew up around folk who, when you come with your list, you've been ignored. They say, I've had a list on the refrigerator every week. What things you were supposed to do, and you every now and then you did it, but most of the time you didn't.
Now you come with your own list. There's a problem with that. They didn't reward your disobedience back in the day. They would preach you a message. That was your Christmas present.
Preach you a sermon. I know that's abuse now. That's disability. That's emotional abuse. You're robbing them of their sense.
Your night season may very well last longer than you would have liked. But be encouraged today. Every night runs out of darkness. Today's message when opposition comes is part of Pastor Paul Shepherd's teaching series, Standing for Right in a Wrong World. Look for it online at pastorpaul.
net. You know, for media ministries like Destined for Victory this time of year can often be difficult. In the busyness of summer, giving often decreases. It's why your generous gift today is so needed and appreciated. When you make the investment into our ministry, we'd like to say thank you with a brand new resource, introducing our 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. And 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 that gift by phone by calling 855-339-5500.
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I'm going through the valley of the shadow of death. I'm not camping out, not buying real estate in the valley. I am going through it. I'm on the move. And I came to tell somebody: opposition sometimes comes in multiplication, but you gotta know that God is gonna get you out of it.
Why? Because your story can't end in defeat. You are a child of God. That's tomorrow in our continuing Destined for Victory message when opposition comes. Until then, remember.
He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.
