When you're called according to God's purpose, God doesn't have a usual, normal, predictable life prepared for you. He has some things prepared for you that your eye hasn't seen, your ears haven't heard. It hasn't even entered into your heart what God is up to in your life. When Moses fled to Midian after killing an Egyptian slave master, he would never have guessed how God would one day use him. Hello, and thanks for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory, where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard.
You know, the same can be said for Peter when he denied Jesus three times, or Saul of Tarsus, who murdered Christians before he became one himself. Today, we hope to convince you that God is up to something in your life, too.
Something you never expected, and something you may not deserve. Online, you'll find us at pastorpaul.net Where you can hear any recent Destined for Victory message on demand, including today's. That's pastorpaul.net.
Now, listen closely to Pastor Paul's message. It's time to pray. Acts chapter 12. Verses one through five. It was about that time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church.
intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads, of four soldiers each.
Herod intended to bring him out for public trial. After the The Passover.
So Peter was kept in prison But the church was earnestly praying to God, for him. And I want you to know as I embark on this. passage, this study. I want you to know that it's time to pray. It's time to pray.
This passage starts out. By saying it was about This time What time is the writer Luke referring to. He's referring to This season in the life of the early Church. You know, the church was established fifty days after. The resurrection of Christ.
50 days after Jesus was resurrected, the church was birthed on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell on the 120 followers who were in Jerusalem and they spilled out into the streets of Jerusalem, praising God, speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance, praising God and telling his wondrous works, many of them in languages they had never previously learned. And on that day, 3,000 people came to say, What must I do to be saved? And in a very powerful way, God gave birth to the church of Jesus Christ. And you see, as you read those early chapters of the book of the Acts, the development of Of the church.
Well, when you get to this passage here in chapter 12, the church is being blessed to expand, and its reach is now even including the Gentile community. You have to realize that the early Jewish believers did not know that God wanted to save not only Jew but also Gentile. That was a surprise to them because all they had known throughout redemptive history was that God chose the Jewish community and put his stamp on them and told them they are his people. What they didn't know is that, yes, the Jewish community is the people of God, to be sure. They were then, they are now by God's design and calling, but they were called to receive the gospel first, not the gospel exclusively.
And I'm glad that they didn't get it all to themselves. Because I'm not a Jewish brother. But I needed salvation. How about you? And I'm glad that when Jesus hung there, he didn't hang there just for Israel.
He hung there for every person who would put his or her trust in his finished work, who needed to be saved, and who would look to that cross for salvation. And so, at this point in the life of the church, the Jews are beginning to realize God is saving not just us, he's starting to save Gentiles. The first Jew who got that revelation, of course, was Peter, because in chapter 10, you see Peter receiving a word from the Lord that he is to go with these people who came to him from Joppa. He is to return with them to the household of Cornelius. And when he gets there, he sees a bunch of Gentiles.
Now, the Lord has already spoken to him through a vision. He gave him a vision. You remember that in Acts chapter 10, where he saw this large blanket come down from heaven and it had all manner of beasts on it. Heard a voice that says, Rise, Peter, slay, and eat. Peter thought it was a test of his Jewish orthodoxy.
And so he said, No, the Lord's tested me. Let me pass this test and show him that I only eat kosher.
So he said, No, I will not eat those things that are on this large blanket. And the voice spoke to him and said, If I call it clean, don't you call it unclean? And the Lord used that to show him that I have now sanctified people outside of the Jewish community and called them to be my own.
So he shows up at a Gentile's house for the first time in his life. He steps into the home of a Gentile and he sees these devout people sitting there. They honor him and they're so glad that he has graced them with his presence. And they said, We're all here ready to receive what God's got for us through you. And so he just began to talk.
He said, Well, I guess I now realize that God's no respecter of persons. And he just started not so much preaching, he just started talking. He said, I realize now that God accepts folk from any community whose hearts are open to him. And as he began to share from the present revelation he was receiving, the Holy Spirit fell on those people. They began to speak in tongues, just like Peter and the bunch had done before.
And Peter said, Look at this. And he realized God is doing something significant. God is doing something special, and God is doing something we never expected. You know what? I believe that the 21st century church ought to go back to saying, Lord, it's time for you to once again do something special and do something that we don't even expect.
It's time for us to stop praying little cute, normal, predictable prayers and say, God, blow our minds. God, do something that we just say, I can't believe what I just saw God do. I can't believe that door He opened. I can't believe that way He made. I believe we ought to go back.
To expecting the unexpected. And if we do, I believe the Lord will meet us at the place of the unexpected. That's what was going on at this time. The unexpected was happening. Jewish believers were having their minds blown that now the Gentiles were also in community with them.
So during this period of time, not only was God moving in a special way, but the enemy was stirred up in a special way. You do know that when God is blessing, the enemy starts messing. And that's why I want you to know that because when you see it happen in your life, as you see God pushing you towards some things, don't be surprised if you see the enemy stepping up his attack. Read redemptive history. Whenever God's people are on the move, the enemy is plotting and planning and strategizing.
And that's a good sign. Do you know when the enemy starts really messing around in your life? That's a very good sign?
Now, granted, it doesn't feel great. But it is a good sign, you know why? Because that means you are doing enough that you're on his radar. God is doing enough in you that you're on his radar. In fact, sometimes the enemy knows more about what God is up to in your life than you know.
And that's been true throughout redemptive history. Do you remember in the book of Joshua that as the people came into the promised land and their first attack, of course, was at Jericho. But even before the people were coming into the land, their reputation preceded them as they began to plan to spread out and take all that territory that God says was theirs.
So much so that by the time the spies got to where Rahab was, you remember this story? Rahab told them, We've heard about y'all. We've heard about y'all, and the place is shut up for fear because of you. The enemy knows sometimes better than you know what God is up to in your life. I want to let you know when you're called according to God's purpose, God doesn't have a usual, normal, predictable life prepared for you.
He has some things prepared for you that your eye hasn't seen, your ears haven't heard. It hasn't even entered into your heart what God is up to in your life. Now, if you receive that, it's so. If you don't receive it, it's still so. The only difference is you might not walk into your promised land, but it doesn't mean God doesn't have it for you.
You do realize the promised land could have been as available to the first generation that came out of Egypt as it was to the second. The promised land was theirs. The first one just didn't claim it because they were scared. They were so worried about giants and walled cities. And so God said, fine, y'all rather have the desert and these little dry, pitiful bushes than to go in there in the land of milk and honey?
I'll let you stay in these bushes. I'll let you raise your kids out here. You have a bunch of desert babies. And do you know that's what they did? For 40 years, those people fooled around in a wilderness when God had prepared a land where they could take over whole cities, where they could have provision for generations to come.
The only difference between Generation 1 and Generation 2 was Generation 2 said, I want everything God's got for me. 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. 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.
That's 855-339-5500. When you pray, it's important to be specific. That way, you will know immediately when God answers those specific prayers, and you'll have a wonderful testimony to share with others.
Now, the rest of today's Destined for Victory message: it's time to pray. I want you to know that in today's body of Christ, there are two generations of believers simultaneously living together. There are some saints, there are some Christians, they're saved, they love God, they're going to heaven, but they don't want their Canaan. Because they're too busy worried about giants and walled cities and stuff. I've never been over there before.
I'm not fooling around. Joshua, and these young folks are not taking me over there. I don't know where they're taking me. And there are some people that's all they worry about is what they can see and what they fear. But thank God there's another simultaneous generation of Christians.
And I've come to tell you, I'm in that group. That says, I want everything. If Jesus paid for it all, I want it all. Salvation is all-inclusive, and I want everything it includes. I don't just want salvation when I die.
I want salvation here. I want deliverance here. I want blessing here. I want provision here. I want miracles here.
I want to see God blow my mind here. I want to walk in dominion here. I want to walk in victory here. I want to see everything God has to show me here. And I hope some of y'all are on that train too.
I'll get on the train by myself, but I'd rather take y'all with me. Let's just decide that we want to see God move. And so, when you see the enemy stirred up, that's really a good sign. And what you just have to keep in mind is that's just like redemptive history. He gets stirred up.
As the people began to possess the promised land, enemies would strategize. I think it's in Joshua chapter 11, there were a bunch of kings that got together, folk who normally don't like one another, but they all got together. And they all decided to form an unholy alliance against Israel because they had heard about all the victories they had from Joshua chapter 6 when they went into Jericho all the way up through chapter 10. That represents years of victories, and they had heard about those. And so they said they're coming our way.
But if we all get together and pull our resources, and about four or five kings pulled all of their armies together. And now you have hundreds of thousands of warriors who are against the people of God. But you know, if God before us. See, some of y'all are worried about you calculating your enemies. Look at that.
My goodness, there's a whole bunch of them. Look at all them. They all got together. They don't even speak to one another. They all got together.
Listen, get your eyes off of that. Do you know what the Lord said to Joshua in Joshua chapter 11 when that alliance got together? He said, There's a whole bunch of them coming against you. He said, But don't worry about it. And I love this.
He said, Because by this time tomorrow, I'm going to put them all in your hands. You know, your tomorrow is coming. Yours might not be a 24-hour promise, but your tomorrow is coming. God sees your enemies, and He knows the date that He has established for their demise. And all you have to do is keep walking by faith.
Just keep on walking by faith. When the enemy rants and raves, just keep on walking by faith. Let him run his mouth while you take care of God's business, and you will see God destroy your enemies in front of you. I want to tell somebody who is saying, Yeah, but the enemy seems to be getting stronger instead of weaker. That's just a sign that victory is going to be greater.
That's all that means. See, don't try to predict victory by seeing the slow demise of your enemy.
Sometimes it gets worse just before the victory comes.
Sometimes God doesn't bring about your deliverance, your help, until midnight, the darkest hour. And so, when you see your midnight approaching and you see things getting worse, and you see the enemy forming alliances, and you see all hell breaking out, you gotta learn to say that's probably an indication that my deliverance is just around the corner. And by this time tomorrow, whenever your tomorrow is, the Lord says, I'm going to take care of this and I'm going to put the enemy in your hands. And so the enemy is getting stirred up here in the book of Acts through Herod. Herod decides to do a bold thing and he decides to persecute some of the church's leaders.
So he begins, we're told, in verse 1, by killing James.
Now, there were a couple of James who were apostles. The James he killed was the brother of John. James and John, you remember them? Because you will see in the Gospels at one point they came to Jesus and said, you know, one of us would like to sit on your left and the other one on the right. Why don't you give us the inside track?
To hook up among the disciples. And they wanted to be the two special, the two top dogs right near Jesus.
So they're lobbying for this special treatment. And you remember Jesus' response? He said, Well, let me ask you a question: Can you drink of the cup? Of suffering that I've got a drink of. If you want to be close to me, that means you're going to suffer like me.
That wasn't what they were counting on. See, they wanted the glory without the suffering. And it is amazing to me that Jesus said, You will indeed suffer. He predicted to the two of them that were looking for glory, you will suffer. Actually, it was a response to their request.
He said, Yeah, I'm going to give you a special place in the kingdom, but it's because I'm going to let you suffer like I've suffered. And here's the first one. Jesus died?
So did James. First apostle to die in the history of the church.
Now, you know, chapters before we saw a deacon die whose name was Stephen. But James here is the first apostle to die the death of a martyr. As it turns out, all of the apostles died as martyrs, with one exception. Guess who the exception was? James' brother.
John.
So one brother who asked for special treatment dies here as the first martyr. The second brother lived the longest of the apostles. And he suffered by being exiled to the island of Patmos. His brother is the one who wrote the book of the Revelation. He was on an island.
He was exiled. They sent him away so that he couldn't disturb their society. And all God turned it into was a place where he could speak to him and where John could write what later turned out to be the book of the Revelation. And so God knows everything. He knows your future.
He knows what's going to happen in your life. And he allows James to have the honor. of being the first to die like Christ. Because you know what? That suffering was the prelude to the glory he wanted.
They wanted glory, but you're not going to get a crown without a cross. You're not going to get glory without suffering. You can tear that off. You can forget that if you think you're just going to have all glory and no problems. But I want to encourage somebody.
I want some of you all who know your kingdom first, who know you're surrender to God, who know your life is about doing the will of God. And you say, But I'm going from one trial into another one. I just want you to see that's your suffering cup filling up, so that God, when He blesses you, He'll also fill up your glory cup. And tell God, Lord, I'm looking for some blessings to come out of all this that I'm going through. I'm lookin' for a shift to come.
For I go through a season of suffering, but I'm believing God for a season of glory and victory. And so Herod stretches out his hand and kills James, the brother of John. Don't be surprised when the enemy gets stirred up, when he is emboldened against you, against your family, against your church, against any area of the will of God. When you see the enemy stirred up. That just means that God is up to something and the enemy is in panic mode.
Now When Herod saw that this pleased the Jews, He got happy. He said, Oh, wow, the people like this. This one sent my popularity rating through the roof. And so he said, okay, since they like me taking one of the leaders, let me go on and take the ring leader. Peter was the most prominent.
of all of the apostles at this time in the history of the church. And so he arrested Peter also. But this was the time of the Passover. This was during the week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a seven-day feast following the Passover. And he arrested him during that time, but he said, I'm not going to kill him right away since the Jews are going through this feast period.
I know how special that is. I will wait. And after this Passover period ends, I'll put him on public trial, which will be a mockery, just like the trial of Jesus. But it will seem like it was the consensus to have Peter killed. And then we will put him to death that way.
But here's what happened: God even orchestrated the timing of Peter's arrest so that they couldn't kill him right away because of the feast period. And that gave the church time. That gave the church time, time to react, time to decide we're not putting up with this, time to say we got to do something about this. I want to let you know they had time.
Now, just because they had time doesn't mean that they would automatically use it properly. Do you know some of us have time, but we're misusing it?
Sometimes you have time. To respond to a crisis, an attack of the enemy, but you don't know what to do.
Well, this message is coming to say: here's why God gave you time so you can pray. You know, one of the reasons God gives us time is so that we'll have an opportunity to show perseverance in our prayer life. Don't give up if your prayers aren't answered right away.
Sometimes God doesn't just want you to say how badly you need this answer, He wants you to show it by your persistence. Thanks for spending part of your day with us on Destined for Victory. Today's message is time to pray as part of our teaching series, God is a Finisher. Look for it online at pastorpaul.net. You know, Destined for Victory could not exist without the faithful prayers and financial support listening friends and partners like you provide.
You are the lifeblood of this media ministry, and it's because of you that we can share the gospel of Jesus Christ with people all over the world. With summer coming to a close soon, we're asking you to prayerfully consider sending a generous gift to help make sure we can finish these final few months of the year in a strong financial position. And when you do, we have a great resource to share with you. It's our booklet, Rising Above Offense. This is something every believer should read.
You'll discover how to respond the right way when someone offends you or does you harm. And you'll learn all about the beautiful and amazing power of forgiveness and what it unlocks in your life. Again, that's rising above offense. Request your copy today for your generous gift to Destined 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. You're not going to get a crown without a cross. You're not gonna get glory without suffering.
You can tear that off. You can forget that if you think you're just gonna have all glory and no problems. That's tomorrow in our continuing Destined for Victory message: It's Time to Pray. Until then, remember. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.
In Christ, you are destined for victory.
