I have walked with God long enough, and I have led. God's people long enough to realize. that one of the things we have to learn to give an account to God for is how we go through What we have to go through. You do know just because trials are common to the human family. doesn't mean everybody handles them right.
It's one of the toughest verses in all the Bible to obey, but that's exactly what God asks us to do. Hello, and thanks for stopping by for Destined for Victory, where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard. James chapter 1, verse 2 tells us, Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.
Now We might be able to endure trials. We may even be able to persevere through trials. But to consider them joy? Stay with us now as Pastor Paul examines the concept a little more closely. Online, you'll find us at pastorpaul.net, where you can listen to any recent message on demand, including today's.
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Now, let's listen closely to Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message. Becoming an excellent steward of our trials. All right, I want to jump into. The next part of this series, I started this series in January on becoming excellent stewards. And we have covered over the course of these months with breaks for other messages, but we've talked about becoming excellent stewards of our treasure.
Our task our time, our teamwork. and our talents Now I'm moving on to a new area of focus. And this area is not something most people think about when it comes to stewardship. People tend to only think about time, talent and treasure. But as you see, we've covered several other things.
And this that I'm going to launch today. Is an area most people don't think about. Here is what it is: becoming excellent stewards. of our trials. Exactly.
You like, well, I go through them, but I don't know about it. Becoming an excellent steward of them, yes. I have walked with God long enough, and I have led God. God's people long enough to realize that one of the things we have to learn to give an account to God for. is how we go through What we have to go through.
You do know just because trials are common to the human family doesn't mean everybody handles them right. I don't know if you know it, but some folks' lies fall apart. When they go through certain trials and tribulations.
Some of them who named the name of Christ. Don't even go through those things well.
So, when I heard my wife's expressions earlier today, I said, My Lord, look at that. She talked about what I'm about to tell the saints, which is, God cares how we go through what we go through.
So, with that in mind, and this is just launching it today, I'll pick it up and continue on. I want you to go with me to James chapter 1, the New Testament book of James, chapter 1. And let's just look at the first verse and then In a few moments, we'll look at a few other verses in James chapter 1. Here's how he opens his letter. James, a servant of God.
And of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations, greetings. I so love James. Let me just pause long enough to say, if you're not familiar with the history of the New Testament church, James was a blood brother of Jesus. You know, Jesus was the firstborn of Mary because he was born without the assistance of Joseph. You know that.
You know that Jesus was the Immaculate Conception because the Holy Spirit, we're told in the Bible, is the one who overshadowed Mary, and that resulted in the pregnancy. And you know, even Joe, when he heard she was pregnant, he's like, wait now. I don't know about all that. No, if I'm gonna marry her, she been and she been creeping, you know what I'm saying?
So Oh, y'all y'all thought TLC came up with creeping. That's in the Bible before.
So anyway, The angel had to tell Joe: No, no, no, go on and marry her. What is in her is of God.
So Jesus was not born because of man, but because of God.
However, after they married, they went on and had more children. And those kids didn't come from the Holy Ghost, they came from Joe. All right, everybody got that.
Well, one of them was James. He did not follow his brother during his earthly ministry. You see no record of him becoming a follower all the way up. To the cross. But somewhere He found that his brother wasn't just his older brother.
He was the king of kings, the Lord of lords. And God saved him, and he became a leader in the early church. Listen, don't write people off just because they're not saved in the way you got saved or when you got saved. Don't look at anybody and say, oh, I don't think they'll ever come to faith. Don't write anybody off.
The Holy Spirit is able to reach anybody at any time in their life's journey.
So James came to faith and became a leader in the early church. And I love how he is not real churchy. That's what I like about him. He doesn't do all the holy this and thou and all that stuff. James said, I'm the servant of God and of Jesus Christ.
I'm writing to the 12 tribes that are scattered because of persecution. Greetings. I love that sub. That's James. He's up.
Then look at verse 2. He says something you wouldn't expect to hear, especially from a Christian leader. He says, consider it pure joy. My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials. of many kinds.
Wait.
Now He just Prove to me he's a straight lace. Down to earth guy. Who lives in the real world. I appreciate that about him. But what up with?
Consider it pure joy. When you face trials of many kinds. James, are you serious? You to be kidding. But he's not kidding.
He's serious. Look at the rest of what he says. Why should I consider it joy when I'm going through trials of many kinds? Verse 3, because. You know that the testing of your faith.
Yeah. Perseverance. He says you ought to have joy, consider it joy, put it in the positive column. In other words, if you, you know, you who reconcile your finances, not some of y'all don't know what I'm about to say because you don't. But you who take the time and know what your budget really is, here's what there's the outgo and the income.
Some of y'all is just all blended, and you're just hoping that it all works out. We got some. I hope all this works out. Come on, be honest. I'm one of them.
I just hope everything just kind of. But if you're a reconciler, I want to know at the end of the day I got I really got this money in the bank. One of the reasons you need to do that is 'cause some of y'all write checks by faith. You kind of don't want to do that. You want to know what's going on.
And when it comes to this reconciling, he said on the positive side of the ledger. Put your trials. They feel like they belong on the negative side. If you're dealing with feelings, nobody likes going through trials. Nobody wants to deal with hardships, but that's life.
Welcome to earth. And just because you get saved doesn't mean you don't go through them. One of the reasons I'm putting this in the stewardship series is because I want you to understand you got to give an account for how you go through the tough times in life. Because you're going to have them. I really hate that there are so many Christian leaders out here, teachers and broadcasts and stuff, where people are making you think if you are walking by faith, you're going to have a wonderful life and you're going to be a millionaire and you're going to have all this.
And they put those themes to theology, but it doesn't fit the word of God. Yes, God blesses a lot of people. Yes, there are many Christians who are very wealthy, healthy, wealthy, sexy, and wise. Yes, I know a lot of them, and they praise God, and their life looks great. First of all, don't judge a book by its cover.
I know some folk who got a lot of stuff you think you want, but I have the privilege of knowing behind the scenes what's really going on. And I can tell you, not everything that shines is gold. And not everybody whose life looks perfect is perfect. I've seen people in a mansion who can't stand their own spouse in the mansion. How's that abundant life?
And you're living in a mansion and you got bars of gold that you put away and all this stuff, and you can't stand your own spouse or your children, and you got all kinds of infighting in the family. That's not abundant life. Abundant life doesn't consist in the abundance of things you have. Consist in your ability to live life well, whether you're going through good times or bad. time.
Still ahead, the second half of today's Destined 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.
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Now, here's the rest of today's Destined for Victory message: becoming an excellent steward of our trials.
Now, the rest of this series is a didactic series. I've been teaching y'all all the way. That's why I had Dr. Abu Ala come and hoop. Every now and then, I got to get a hooper through here so y'all can run and dance and shout because I've been teaching all year.
But when it comes to this charge, I realize I can't teach that. I got to proclaim that. I got to break some people out of the habit of thinking that they're supposed to have all this wonderful stuff all the time. Yes, God's going to bless you in a lot of ways, but sometimes you're going to go through hell. And it's not because of a lack of your faith.
Don't let the devil tell you if you were walking in stronger faith, you wouldn't go through trouble. I came to correct that. The reason you gotta have strong faith is because you're gonna go through trouble. Oh, I'm going to preach before I sit down in 14 minutes. The very reason your faith needs to be strong is so that you know God is going to bring me through it because He's the only.
One who can get me through what I have to deal with. Don't let somebody judge your faith and your walk with God by the trouble in your life. Trouble is going to come. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. Those that live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, tribulation, trials of many.
Many kinds. And so you got to understand, God says you're going to go through them.
So stop listening to people who are telling you if your faith was strong, you wouldn't have any trouble. There's a Greek word for that, baloney. Yes, you can have strong faith and go through all kinds of trouble, and it is your faith that's going to get you through what you have to go through. I need my faith in the hard times more than I need it when I'm in the dealership about to get a nice, really nice ride. I praise God when I'm able to trade my car and get a nice ride.
I really do appreciate that. I drove a hoopty for many years. I told God I'm going to be faithful over this.
So when you bless me with the next blessing of can I handle wealth, I'm going to say I was faithful in the lean times, I'm going to be faithful in the fat time. And so I enjoy every car I drive now because I've been, I had the second worst car in the church. As the pastor. Shameful. But no, it wasn't shameful.
I was proud because I knew I was here because God had called me to be here. The church was little, and I came with this big vision, telling thousands coming and all. And here I am, putting for Jesus. Just putting along. And you know, but some of them folk who love you to be to live real simply, anyway.
Some people think you're supposed to do that as a Christian leader. I'll never forget the brother who saw me in a season where I had an Audi A8 and I had this big sedan and I was enjoying my Audi. And he saw it when my church started growing, and people of different cultures and coming from different mindsets came. And so he, I guess, he assumed he had joined a church where the pastor lived humbly and didn't have anything and all that. And he wrote me and he said, I saw what you were driving, and I was troubled.
I wrote him back, said, Bruh, I'm so sorry that you were troubled. I was driving, and I was not troubled at all. Oh. I got no trouble when I'm driving in a nice ride. Because you should, you just miss my season.
If you wanted to be impressed, you should have seen me in them early days where I'm just believing God while I get down the road. But you got to learn to deal with trouble because it's going to come. And it's not a lack of faith that has you in trouble. It is because of your faith that God's gonna get you through the trouble.
So he said, put it in the positive column. It feels like it belongs in the negative column, but count it, reckon it in the positive. Reckon it as income, not expense. When you go through your trials, actually, God is adding to your life, is what James says.
Now, the child feels like it's taken away from you, but you got to reorient yourself. If you're going to walk by faith, when the Bible says walk by faith, not by sight, it's talking about you got to learn to live counterintuitively. What your instincts are are going to be the exact opposite of what God wants you to do in certain situations. And this is one of them. When you're going through your trials, He said, put it on the plus side.
Why? Because the testing of your faith. is going to produce something you need. Perseverance, that ability to press through, that ability to go ahead anyhow. See, some of y'all can say hallelujah when your bills are paid and your kids are acting right and your marriage is in a good place and the job is stable.
It's easy to say hallelujah. But how many can keep saying, hallelujah, when you just got a pink slip? Hallelujah, when they just shut you down, hallelujah, when your kids are acting like the devil raised them. Who can praise God when all hell is breaking out in your life? And he said, that's the testing of your faith.
And as my wife mentioned in her remarks, it is like working out. It is testing. You know, when you who are brave enough to go to the gym, you know what happens. You know what happens? They actually tell you you've got to put pressure on certain muscles to the point where you are like, oh man, this is hard.
Yes, if it's easy, that's not going to get you where you want to go. You got to put in some pressure against the pressure.
So that you can press through to a new place of perseverance. And in your spiritual walk, the Bible says that's exactly what's happening.
So the reason why James can make this point, and the reason why the other apostles make similar points in their writings, is because this is a reality that God is not going to deliver you from your trouble in this world. You're going to have trouble in this world till the Lord is ready to take us home. See, that's why when you listen to these people who are trying to act like walking with Jesus and walking by faith, it is heaven on earth. It'll never be heaven on earth. You might have heavenly moments.
I've had times of whole seasons where life is, oh, what a beautiful morning. Oh, what a beautiful day. I had a wonderful feeling, everything's going my way. I've been through those. You've been through those seasons.
Keep on living. After a while, you're going to wake up. Good morning, heartache. Oh, you're going to be Billy Holiday whether you want to be or not. Still saved, still sanctified, still loving Jesus, still walking by faith.
But life bites. In a big way. And you can go through whole seasons like that. With your faith just as strong as it can be. But you're going to need that faith.
Yeah. Because that's how God's gonna get you to the next place. See, when you understand this principle that you got to learn to put in the positive side things that make you feel like life's on the negative side because of things like what Paul said in Romans 8, 28, he said, and we know. That in all things God works For the good. Of those who love him.
Who have been called according to. Do you notice what it says? In all things God works. For the good. It's what you're going through isn't good.
It's a trial. But God takes it. And he exercises you with it. And that hard thing. He makes you go.
Because he's producing Something.
So y'all need to quit this candy store theology. Stop listening to people who are telling you lies in the name of God. You are going to go through some trials sometimes, not because you're lacking faith, because you're strong in faith. And God is saying, I'm going to put some more weights on this. Cause I'm gonna use it to work you out.
And that's why I'm always telling you, you can't always expect to be blessed in the ways we consider blessing. You're being blessed when you're going through trials if you go through them right. That's why I'm talking about this in the stewardship series. If you go through it right, it will produce blessings you never saw coming. And so God is at work.
And we've got to learn. We've got to learn. One of our biggest problems is this candy store theology. These people just telling you everything's going to be, you're going to be blessed, blessed, blessed. I get so sick of hearing all this.
And now you've got Christians who are mixing a metaphysical. Things with the Bible, and it just sounds weird. And you got all this Christian now going around manifesting stuff. Listen, y'all cut that out. The Bible doesn't talk about that.
The Bible does talk about the need for us to have a strong confession of faith. But a strong confession of faith is not you creating a reality with your mouth. Two different things. If you can manifest like that, go on manifest yourself a million bucks. Go ahead, knock yourself out.
See how well that works. Get a bad diagnosis from the doctor and manifest. I don't have any sickness. I've manifested wealth and health. And I know I'm getting old, but I'm I'm manifesting, I'm young and sexy.
Manifest all you want to. You better learn how to live with your old self. And do it the way God wants you to do it. We're getting older. I'm getting older, but I'm going to get wiser.
I'm gonna get stronger. I'm going to be more of a blessing to more people. Because time! is winding up. And whatever I'm going to get done for God, I better get it done now.
Thanks so much for being here with us for today's Destined for Victory message: becoming an excellent steward of our trials. Always glad to have you with us.
Now, I'm pleased to welcome Pastor Paul's daughter and the executive director of Destined for Victory, Alicia Greer, to the studio. Alicia, shortly before Pastor Paul, your dad, went home to be with the Lord earlier this year, he was teaching a group of messages about stewardship, a series we're sharing now 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. Thank you, Alicia. The message is called Sometimes You Have to Encourage Yourself. 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 Destin for Victory. You can give by phone by calling 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-5500.
or by visiting pastor Paul dot net to make a safe and secure donation online. Or one more way, you can mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box seventeen sixty seven, Fremont, California, nine four five three eight. We love efficiency, but God loves effectiveness. And in order to make you effective, sometimes he is going to make you go through stuff that for a long time you don't understand. And out.
Afterwards it will yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness. That's tomorrow in our continuing Destined for Victory message: becoming an excellent steward of our trials. Until then remember He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in Christ. You are destined for victory.
