Hello and welcome to Destined for Victory, where we feature the teaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard. Always glad to have you with us. Up next, we've got a great message coming your way from Proverbs chapter 31. But before we bring it to you, Pastor Paul's daughter, the executive director of Destined for Victory, Alicia Greer, joins me here in the studio. Alicia, shortly before your father went home to be with the Lord, he was teaching a group of messages about stewardship, a series we're hearing 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.
Well, 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 video link. Again, it's sometimes you have to encourage yourself, one of the last messages Pastor Paul ever preached, and it's only available today 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. A wife of noble character, who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her.
and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm. all the days of her life. That's Proverbs 31, verses 10 through 12, when you're listening to Destin for Victory.
Well, when Pastor Paul Shepard shared those words, he wasn't preaching a sermon on godly wives in general. He was speaking of someone specific and close to his heart, his late mother, Peggy Shepard. We have that full message to share with you over the next couple of days, and there's something in it for everyone.
So, you've picked a great time to be here with us.
So, let's get started with Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message. worth far more than rubies. Let me put a time stamp on this presentation because our messages are heard. at different times Due to our worldwide media presence, destined for victory ministries. Broadcast, daily broadcasts, and podcasts.
So I want to make sure whenever you hear this, you know why I'm. speaking the way I am. And today I'm presenting the message Sunday November 24. in the year twenty twenty four, Because two days ago I was the officiant at the homegoing service of my DEAR MOTHER PEGGY SHEPHERD. Her other two sons are both preachers And she requested that her sons eulogize her so.
She and she already had requested a relatively short Service now in the black church relatively short. means two hours or less. And so I shot for two hours. Service because she had written out everything she wanted, and I know how some folks get. You can tell them, you know, just have three minutes for your remarks.
And, you know, some people would take some three minutes to clear their throats good.
So.
So I knew how to manipulate this program. But I knew I could not present.
So I said, when I go home Sunday, I'm going to both eulogize her and bring the word to my congregation at the same time.
So that's why. What you're about to hear has been planned. because I want to eulogize my mother. And I want to encourage all of us, whether men or women, to learn and to emulate. Three important lessons based on my mom's example.
And so With that in mind, I want you to go with me to Proverbs chapter 31. I want to look at verses 10 through 12. And then verses 27 through 27. through thirty. Proverbs chapter thirty one Beginning with verse 10.
I'm in the new international version. One of my friends calls it the non-inspired version. That's not true. Here's what it says. A wife of noble character who can find She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her. and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm. all the days of her life. Verse twenty-seven.
She watches over the affairs of her household. and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed. Her husband also, and he praises her. Many women do noble things.
But you surpassed them all. Charm is deceptive. And beauty is fleeting. But a woman who fears the Lord. is to be praised.
I want to tag this text. with the title Worth Far more Than rubies. My mom Peggy Shepherd was indeed worth far more Then rubies. She was not boisterous. She was not one of those upfront, out-loud kinds of people at all.
Most comfortable in the background. not making a lot of noise or drawing a lot of attention. But she was Far. Worth far more. than rubies.
Three reasons why I say that from this text Here's the first. She was worth far more than rubies because She excelled as a woman who added significant value. to her husband's life and ministry. Look again at verses 11 and 12. of this text.
Her husband has full confidence in her. and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good. not harm. All the days of her life.
My mother Was a country girl, grew up born in nineteen thirty two, Grew up in the South, in Mississippi. And she was straight up a country girl. She didn't have big city values or big city dreams. As she grew up, she just wanted to live a quality life. And to have success In terms of accomplishing the things that God put on her heart to do.
You know, success is something that every now and then we need to take a look at and make sure we don't change our definitions. A lot of people think success has to do with job, career, Bank account status. All of those things. That may or may not contribute to one success. But believe me when I say success.
Does it demand any particular set of external things. I think success is knowing God's will and doing it. Yeah. At the end of the day, if you find out what God's will, God's purpose for your life is, and you pull it off, You have been successful. And that's what my mother wanted to be.
As she grew into an adolescent and moved through her teens and all of that, she. She knew in her heart. that she really wanted to focus more on family life. than on life outside of the home. You know, she was part of what social researchers call the silent generation.
Those are the people born between 1927 and 1945. The silent generation. And they called him that because they were people who tended, of course, there were a lot of big, boisterous people that came out of that generation. But when they look at the norms of that generation, They were people who tended to just kind of put their heads down and get whatever was on their heart done without a lot of fanfare. Again, there are plenty of exceptions.
Don't send me a bunch of emails. I'm just saying that the social researchers tell us that they weren't a generation driven by the trappings necessarily that many people call success. And so they lived their lives well. And she was certainly one of those people who wanted to do well and make her impact at home very, very clear. And so.
She eventually, though she was a bright woman and could have chosen any career path, and she would have been successful had she chosen that, her heart. Became very early, she had a desire to be a full-time homemaker. That was her desire. Again, it wasn't lack of intellectual prowess or anything like that. She just wanted to be a homemaker.
And back in that day, and it ought to we ought to re rediscover it. Homemaker is different than housewife. I'm going to make this plain for everybody. It's just generations and gender. I'm going to help you get some principles that you can take from my mom's life.
She wanted to be a homemaker because that was what God put on her heart to do. And homemaker doesn't mean housewife. In the words of the great theologian Luther Vandros. A chair is just a chair. Even when there's no one.
Sitting there. But a chair Is not a house. And a house. is not a home. Don't y'all start.
All right, I'll give you real quick. when there's no one there. To hold you tight. And no one there you can kiss good night. And of course, Luther put on good morning, good evening, good afternoon, hello, bye-bye, baby.
All right, come on back in the spirit. Come on, let's get back in the spirit. She wanted to be a homemaker. It's not about the house, it's about the home, the family. The connectedness of people God put.
Together. in a family unit. We'll be right back with more of today's Destined for Victory message, so don't go away. Remember, you can always 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.
That's pastorpaul.net, where you can listen on demand to any of our recent messages. Also, subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcast at Spotify or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.
Well, before Pastor Paul's mother got married, she already knew how God wanted her to spend her life. There's a great lesson to be learned here for all of us, especially young women who have not yet gotten married.
So let's get you back to the second half of today's Destined for Victory message, worth far more than rubies.
So as a teenager She accepted the Lord as her Savior. She was raised in a devout Christian home. Her parents my grandparents, grandpa, Esau and grandmom. Martha. uh raised her in there children to know and love the Lord, and she accepted Christ as a teenager.
And uh so she Was at church. In Chicago, by this time, they have moved. When she was in her teens, they had moved. Family moved from Mississippi to the big city of Chicago. And um She went to high school and graduated from high school in Chicago.
And they joined a Church of God there. And she became active in the church. I heard she was an usher and sang in the church. Choir and all that. I couldn't even picture my mind.
Like, really, my mom? But that's what she did. She was active in her church. as a teenager. A young evangelist named Horace Shepard came through town.
He was Widely known for his dynamic preaching. My dad was in his youth, his late teens and early 20s, he was known throughout the Church of God circles around the country as the boy preacher. And they said he was quite dynamic.
Well, I know that firsthand once we showed up and he was already pastoring. My dad was one of the most demonstrative preachers I had ever seen. And he hollered, he ran, he he, man, he was a sight. I wish they had video back in those days. I wish you saw my dad back in his day.
There are churches around the country this day. They say, Do you know your father was preaching and he leaped over this pulpit while he was preaching? I mean, he was something else. And he was a fireball, but he preached with passion and with power. And she, being a young, quiet girl, she went to the revival, the youth revival, and watched this young dynamic man, and he saw her.
And the Lord was his shepherd. He saw what he wanted. In the black community, we sometimes distinguish things like light-skinned woman, and he was a dark, handsome, so he said, a dark and handsome young man, and he saw this beautiful. uh woman and he said mm and so he got her Got her phone number. And although after the revival he's going back to Philadelphia, Uh they stayed in touch.
They had a long distance courtship for two years. And then he proposed, and she said yes. And they got married. The old-fashioned Church of God pastor who married them, Dr. Raymond S.
Jackson. Back in those days, the saints and the Church of God at least were very conservative in terms of fashions and they preached against ornamental jewelry and stuff. And so Dr. Jackson said, Now, I won't marry you if rings are going to be exchanged. And they said, Well, we want each other, not the rings.
So they got married. And Pop said, I want to give her something. He said, Well, he said, I only believe in Dr. Jackson. I only believe in jewelry that does something.
And he said, Well, can I get her a gold watch? He said, Sure, that'll be fine.
So he gave my mom a gold watch for her wedding because the guy would not do the rings. You know what? Rings symbolize a wedding, something holy, but anyway. No need of me fussing. Let me keep on going.
And so the bottom line is they married. And um They married in nineteen fifty three. He moved her to Philadelphia. Where he began his pastoral career. He had already been preaching around as an evangelist, which is where she first saw him.
And then he moved her to Philly. and um took his first pastorate. And she began to live out what was in her heart, to be that that wife and homemaker. She knew that she was a good thing. You know, there's a scripture that says, He that Finds a wife, finds a good thing, and she knew she was the good thing he needed.
And so she came, and she, in the words of modern urban vernacular, she upgraded him. Oh She upgraded him. You know, a lot of times folks think the upgrade is somebody who brings you to another level of finances and all that. That's fine. But the real upgrade is what they do to make you a better person.
And uh that's what she did for my dad. He was alright, but she made him better. She really did upgrade him.
Now, let me say a word to those of you who are single, lest you think that this. This first point. Of she added significant value to her husband's life and ministry doesn't apply to you. Let me just say, If you're single and don't plan to or will not choose to marry at any point, you can still do the most important thing that she did, which was to identify: God, what do you want to do in my life? It is really about what God's plan and purpose for your life is.
Marital status may or may not change. If you find the right person and they find you, and y'all make the right commitments, you can have a strong marriage. You know, I don't like it when people act like, you know, that the Cinderella theory. You've heard me talk about this perhaps. There are a couple of theories that Christians have in terms of marriage.
Some believe the Cinderella theory and that that's the best way. That's the way God, there's one person somewhere in the universe you're supposed to meet. And so they think your job is to prayerfully let God bring you together with that one person that you can meet, and that's what's going to make it work. Other believers, equally committed to scripture and all, but we just see it differently. And I'm in this second category.
Our theory is any good size eight will do. Here's what I mean by that. I don't necessarily think you're supposed to spend your life looking for this one person. If you have the right values, and the other person has the right values, and the two of you prayerfully discern that we could be good for each other and y'all marry, God will bless that every bit as effectively. As these people who have a spooky story.
About how they got together. Have you ever met these Christians have these real spooky stories about how I know that was my person, and then they tell you all the little reasons why they got together with this one individual? I have friends, I know some of y'all really believe that. Have faith, have it with all your heart. But don't act like that's the only way, because to tell you the truth, more people are married in the world by arranged marriages than by our Western romantic stuff.
Western culture romantic, we just think, I looked across a crowded room. And my eyes are lit upon the person. That somehow I knew. We would spend our lives together.
Some of y'all say, I instantly fell in love. No, you didn't. You might have seen them and you liked the way they looked or the way they acted or whatever. You didn't fall in love, you didn't even know their name. Love, you gotta have some information to go with your love.
Love isn't a feeling, love is a commitment. Love is a decision. To honor the best that God has for them, and to make sure you do whatever it takes so that they get to enjoy God's best for their lives. And so there are some people you can meet. And I got all the spooky friends, so don't y'all write me with your spooky letter and tell me, no, this is definitely the way.
Yes, for you, it worked out that way. For other people, they got together.
Some marriages, both of them were unsaved when they got married.
So don't make it spiritual. They just weren't even saved. They just liked one another for whatever reasons. But now that they're in the kingdom and they have kingdom values and they committed in a fresh way to be the right person for each other, God's blessing them. And some of those marriages are stronger than the ones of y'all who pray and fast all the time.
Oh, I'm gonna honor my mama with this here message.
So don't get overly spooky. Don't act like everything is just. I know people who are prophets put them together.
Some folk in New York, a prophet told them God wants the two of y'all together. And over the prophecy without checking it out, I believe in prophecy. Let me be real clear. But the Bible is clear, prophecy needs to be tested. Don't you take somebody's word because they said God said it.
You got to test it because we know in part and we prophesy in part, according to 1 Corinthians 13. And so this man, this prophet told these folk, God wants you all together. And so they got married based on somebody's word. Spent, I think it was 22 years being perfectly miserable. and ended up divorcing thereafter.
And later on, their testimony was: why did we listen? To that.
Well, you got to get a you got to get confirmation If God speaks through you, I will say thank you for sharing, and I'm going to say, Lord, if that was you, confirm it to me independent of that. but in a way that I know I'm walking in your word and in your will.
Now, there's some great advice, and it's rooted in the pages of Scripture. Always test a word of knowledge or a prophecy against what the Lord tells you in prayer and in His Word. We're so glad you stopped by for today's Destined for Victory message worth far more than rubies. 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, please come see us at pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net.
Thank God for a mother who just gave us solid home training. I want to tell you, younger pastor. Parents and grandparents, now that some of us have moved into grandparent years, all of us, we need to do everything we can to provide for the generations following solid home training. That's tomorrow in our message worth far more than rupees. But until then remember.
He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.
