Hello and welcome to Destined for Victory, where we feature the teaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard. Coming up next, we kick off our series on stewardship with today's message: becoming an excellent steward of our talents. But first, Pastor Paul's daughter, the executive director of Destined for Victory, Alicia Greer, joins me in the studio. Alicia, shortly before Pastor Paul went home to be with the Lord earlier this year, he was teaching a group of messages about stewardship, a series we're launching today on Destined for Victory. But right in the middle of it, he took a one-week detour and inserted a special message that was weighing heavily on his heart.
And he was more than a little excited to share it, wasn't he? Man, Pastor Paul was so energized when he preached this message. He was actually in the process of teaching his, or what would be his very last series, but he interrupted that series and said, you know, I have to pause teaching, and today I just have to preach. And man, he was just fired up. And so I would encourage everyone to get this resource.
It's so encouraging. By the end, you will be built up. Whether you're going through a challenge now or you are just preparing for what you have to do when you will face one, Pastor Paul gives such practical advice, and you know he does it with his signature humor and his. Down-to-earth style. And so you'll just be so uplifted by the end of listening to this message.
So I pray it blesses you. I'm sure it will bless many. The message is called Sometimes You Have to Encourage Yourself, and it's never aired before on Destined for Victory. It's not available anywhere else, but right here, right now. When you make your most generous gift today, we'll send you this exclusive message as either a DVD or a streaming link.
Again, that's sometimes you have to encourage yourself. One of the last messages Pastor Paul ever preached, and it's only available right here for your most generous donation 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 are a designer original. There is nobody like you on the planet. I don't care if you're an identical twin, you have. You're unique.
identity in this world. Your fingerprints are different. On purpose, you just are a unique person, and God wants to use all of who you are to accomplish His purpose. God has always placed great emphasis on stewardship, not only of our time and our treasure, but of our talents as well. Each of us has been uniquely gifted to fulfill our specific calling in Christ.
This means that you are one of a kind, endowed with gifts he wants you to use to serve others and glorify God. But as you'll see today on Destined for Victory, featuring Pastor Paul Shepard, your ability to serve God goes beyond your talent. It strikes at the very core of who you are and who He designed you to be.
Now, let's get started with Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message: Becoming an Excellent Steward of Our Talents. I told you this year is a didactic year. I'm I'm in Teaching mode. to teach us the cause to learn. And you shouldn't just come to church to shout.
You ought to also learn something. And so this is an extremely didactic year. But I hope it's been fruitful so far. And now, as we're moving into the first Sunday of the second half of the year, And I want to continue. We've already covered becoming excellent stewards of our treasure, Of our tasks.
Of our teamwork. and of our time. And there are four more areas to cover, the fifth of which I begin just with an intro today. Becoming excellent stewards of our talents.
Now, what I want to do is not so much focus exclusively on our talents. Usually, when I preach on stewardship of our talents, I'm talking about spiritual gifts. I will definitely talk about that. I'm talking about natural abilities. I'm definitely talking about that.
But I want us to think not only about Giving God a good return on our talents, but giving God a good return on everything that we are.
So, I want to expand our thinking beyond just what we do for God and talk about who we are. All of us are unique. Nobody in the room, nobody listening to this message, wherever you're hearing it, is the same as anyone else. You are a designer original. There is nobody like you on the planet.
I don't care if you're an identical twin, you have your unique. identity In this world, your fingerprints are different. On purpose, you just are a unique person, and God wants to use all of who you are to accomplish his purpose.
So, when we talk about one day preparing ourselves to hear him say, Well done, I want to make sure you understand that he's not just going to ask you what you did in terms of your talents, but how did you use who you are to advance his kingdom, to share his love, to let people know who he is and how good. he is. And specifically, I want us to consider not only the assets, the obvious assets that are good about who we are, but we need to look at the fact that there are some flaws in us that God wants to use.
Now, preachers don't usually talk about that because we're busy. Cursing and rebuking flaws and problems and carnality and all that. And yeah, we do have to call people up to a higher level of living and call people to character development. That's what the fruit of the Spirit is all about. God wants to give you character that will glorify Him.
In fact, ideally, we should be able to witness without saying a word. Because you can witness just by who you are. If you'll let God have who you are and use who you are, He can use your temperament, He can use your personality, He can use your idiosyncrasies for His purposes.
So, I want to go beyond our talents. We will talk about that, beyond our gifts, we will talk about that. I want to help you understand that God will use you sometimes not only in spite of your Liabilities, your flaws, your weaknesses, your shortcomings, and other parts of you that might seem disqualifying. But sometimes God will use you because of those things. I want you to consider that sometimes your jacked-upedness.
It's supposed to work for God's glory.
Now, I'm going to show you that right from scripture.
So, if you get mad at this part of the series, you'll have to be mad at the word. I'm going to stick with the book. And so, yes, yes, I will definitely talk about your great traits before I leave talents. I will talk about how wonderful you are and all of that. I will affirm you, I will build you up, I will make you feel wonderful about yourself.
I promise I will. Your outstanding qualities. If people just knew just who you were, oh my God, they would just be blessed just to know. The better parts of who you are. That's fine.
We'll get there. But before we get there, I want you to know that I. I know there's some other stuff about you that ain't so wonderful. And yet, God loves you and has a plan for your life. That's all I want to do in this section of the series, is make sure you know you don't have to be the bomb all the time for God to use you.
You don't have to be somebody who is just hitting on all cylinders all the time. You can have some jacked up areas of your life, but God still calls you according to his purpose. That's what I want you to see in this brief introduction, and I'll pick it up in the next message. But I just want to introduce the concept by helping you understand: God knew who you were when He saved you. You're not surprising anybody when you show up with your weaknesses, with your flaws, with your funny ways and funny actions, and God, what's the matter with him?
And Lord, you know, Jesus, please help him. God knew all of that. And he called you anyway. We got to get this straight because the church sometimes we try to act like we're all supposed to have it all together. Where in the where do you think you are?
You're on planet Earth. You are still a work in progress. Oh, I know you saved, sanctified, filled with the Holy Spirit, speak in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. I know you have all of that. But listen, besides that, you've got some other stuff.
Your character is in all ways all the way developed And sometimes you walk in the spirit, but sometimes you are in your flesh. Oh, I'm not asking you what I think. I'm telling you what I know.
Sometimes you're in the spirit, and sometimes you're not. And so you need to understand that God loves all of who you are. And he will use it. For his glory. Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, he said, God intentionally chooses the foolish things of this world in order to shame the wise.
Sometimes, when you're not all that smart, God says, Fine, I'll use you with your lack. of wisdom sometimes. Because I want to show people I can have my hand on someone who is not always together. And he says he uses the weak things to confound the wise. And he uses those things that you would otherwise be ashamed of.
He will use them to speak his goodness to other people.
So I love that about God. He is making you a testimony. You are supposed to be a walking, talking testimony, not just when you're in the spirit, not just when you're just the way you ought to be. I mean a walking testimony no matter where you are, what you're doing. He is working both to will and to do of his own good pleasure.
So, I want you to understand, God knows exactly who you are. Here's what David said in Psalm 139. Verse 1, you have searched me, Lord. And you know me. You know when I sit And when I rise.
You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down. You are familiar. With all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you, Lord.
Know it completely.
So when you say, oom, oops, I almost said something. God knows what you almost said. Get it? He heard it. But I didn't say it.
He heard what was about to come out. Skip down to verse 13. For you created my inmost being. You knit me together. In my mother's womb I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. My frame is not hidden from you. when I was made in the secret place. when I was woven together.
in the depths of the earth. We'll be right back with more of today's Destined for Victory message, so don't go away. Listen to the broadcast on demand at pastorpaul.net. And while you're there, be sure to stop by our online store where you'll find books and video messages that feature the teaching and preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard. It's found at pastorpaul.net.
You may not believe it, you may not feel like it, but you have been fearfully and wonderfully made. You're more gifted than you might think, and every now and then you may even surprise yourself.
Now let's get back to the second half of today's Destined for Victory message: becoming an excellent steward of our talents.
So, do you get it? You are a mystery sometime to yourself. Have you?
Okay, y'all y'all gonna play me. Listen. There are times when you Have Surprised yourself. If you're honest with yourself. You say, ooh, I didn't know I could say that.
Or I didn't know I could think that. Or I didn't know I can imagine that. Or, I'm surprised. I thought I was farther along. Than that.
Well, you surprised yourself. You didn't surprise him. He knew who you were. And now he's letting you get to know a little bit about who you are. And when David said these things, David was learning.
He was in the process. I don't know where in his journey he was, but he was certainly in the process of coming to learn some things about himself. David knew that the hand of God was on him early. Here he was, not even old enough to be in the army, but God. Used him to defeat a giant that the soldiers were scared to come up against.
And so he learned about how great his God was, but later in his life, he learned about how weak he was. You know that about David. He wasn't just all wonderful, he was also weak. And you are a mixture of wonderful and weak. Oh, I'm not asking you, are you?
I'm informing you. That you are. And if you don't realize you are, then ask somebody who is not scared of you and knows you. See, I got to tell you the right person to ask because some of y'all got intimidated people in your sphere, and they're scared to tell you the truth. You can't operate with people, everybody around you, who's intimidated.
That's not going to work well. You're not going to grow if you are somebody who has to have your fans around you all the time.
Some of y'all don't have any friends. You have fans. And they are always there to build you up and pump you up and tell you you are just everything. And you need some folk who love you enough to tell you the truth. You need some people who are truth tellers.
That's their job. They will tell you what they know for sure about you. I have friends who tell me the truth. I am a friend who tells my friends the truth.
Sometimes they come right from some big high moment in their life, and I see some flaw and I say, dude, come here. Because that's what we have to do. We have to look out for one another. No one can look out for himself properly. You got to have some people who will tell you the truth.
Yes, you're all that sometimes. But you're not all that all the time.
Sometimes you are a little bit of that.
Sometimes what you are needs to go somewhere. Come on, somebody.
So, you just got to get yourself straight. I just want to introduce this talents area of the study by assuring you: God wants to use you sometimes despite. The worst of you. The things that aren't always so great. He wants to use you despite the things that may seem to disqualify you.
Because church folk are good at deciding who's qualified and who's not. How dare we decide who God can use because of their flaws and their shortcomings and their sins? How dare we? Yes, sin needs to be dealt with. If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse.
And you sometimes need restoration. You need people to walk with you and examine your life and all that. But to be sure, the church has got to get out of the business of trying to figure out who is qualified. We're all the products of grace. We're all in God's will only by the grace of God.
You don't get to do what you do in any other way except by His grace. What is grace? Unmerited favor. Favor you didn't earn. Grace is when you get what you don't deserve.
Mercy is when you don't get what you really do deserve. And guess what? All of us are the products of mercy and grace. Every day, mercy and grace. I know you sanctified, filled with the Holy Ghost.
Every day, mercy and grace. Every day, mercy and grace. Some of y'all can't even make it to work. Flip somebody off on the freeway. Mercy and grace.
Just cause the saints didn't see you doesn't mean God didn't see you. And some of y'all got to never have a fish on your card, too. That little Christian symbol on your card. Yeah. Flipping folk off in Jesus' name.
I just need you to understand: God loves you, has a plan for you, but He is not infatuated with you. Infatuation is when you focus only on the things about somebody that really does something for you. That's infatuation, that's not love. That's why so many relationships are breaking up because y'all started out with infatuation as the foundation. You got to have agape as the foundation.
Because agape is: I love you when you're right, I love you when you're acting crazy. And I don't like the crazy, but I'm willing to stay with you as long as we deal with the crazy. Come on, somebody.
I'm not going to throw you away, but we will deal with this crazy. Because I'm not living with crazy. That's bottom line. I'm not living with crazy.
So we're going to deal with this. Look, I know folks who sometimes had to separate till the other one got the message that I'm not tolerating crazy. In the same house. Bunny Wilson used to teach that a lot when she would come to our churches and help us with couples, retreats, and all. And she said that we have to sometimes teach people to separate redemptively.
A redemptive separation means I'm not leaving the marriage, I'm leaving you crazy with the instruction you need to get this dealt with. And if you will go to the right counselor and get the right stuff dealt with, I will be there to support you. I'll be praying if I need to be in some of the sessions. I'll be there in case you lie to the counselor, I'll tell him the truth. Oh, see, I'm trying to help somebody.
Sometimes you got to go in there to make sure they're not in there tripping. And when you get it straight, I will be right here, and we will live the second part of our lives better than the first. God will use you despite the things that other people would use to disqualify you. Abraham was old and childless, but God said, I can use that. Oh man, I can use that.
Childless, I can use that. In fact, I need him to be childless, so when I give him a baby. Everybody will say that had to be God. You got to understand, God isn't limited by what people say, well, it's too late. Where'd too late come from?
God is a God of the ever-present, He is is-ness personified. I am that I am, he told Moses. He is eternal is-ness. God has everlasting is-ness. He is never was, he is never will be, he always is.
So he doesn't have a too late. There is no too late. God was going to do something, but it's too late. He said, What are you talking about? Too late?
I know he's old, and I know they haven't made Viagra yet, but I am a God. Y'all better not mess with me. I got seven more minutes. I know they haven't made that yet, but I am a God. Who can speak it?
And it is so. And when y'all get through with Ishmael and Hagar and fooling around trying to be who you're not. Trying to make something happen that only I can do. God waited until they did that. Ishmael was good and grown.
I mean teenager. When God said, Now, Abraham, the promise I gave you, if you're ready. Let's get this done. I know you old now. But I'm ready to move.
Abraham said, Well, Ishmael's here now. Why don't we just go with him? He said, I don't take my promises and transplant them. And so he said, if you and Sarah are ready, And Sarah is done laughing. Y'all remember that?
Sarah laughed. Sila, you got to be kidding. You got to be kidding. Did you know this story? And when she realized God was serious.
She said, all right, we're going to buckle down, get this done. Let me run down to Victoria. Don't tell nobody. Grab me a little something. And Abraham, this is what you got to work with.
Come on. And you know the story. Along came Isaac, the child of promise. God doesn't crack jokes when He says it. He's going to bring it to pass.
And God said, I'm going to take your oldness and your childlessness, and I'm going to use it to make you the father of many nations. Put your complete faith in this truth today. Every promise God makes is a promise God keeps. There are no exceptions. We're so glad you stopped by for today's Destined for Victory message: becoming an excellent steward of our talents.
To find out more about Destined for Victory's mission and purpose, or about the special gift reserved for you when you give generously today, visit Pastor Paul.net. That's pastorpaul.net. If you will utilize all of the passions and the things God puts in your life, that they will open doors by themselves just by you being faithful over the things that God brings you into encounters with. That's tomorrow in our message Becoming an Excellent Steward of Our Talents. Until then remember.
He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.
