Thank God for a mother who just gave us solid home. I want to tell you younger 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. Hello, and thanks for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory, where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard.
Well, we began a message yesterday that was close to Pastor Paul's heart. It was a tribute to his mother, Peggy Shepherd, a woman who devoted her life to the love and care of her husband and raised her five children in the wisdom and instruction of the Lord. He continues that message today with some biblical advice to all you mothers and future mothers out there.
So pay close attention as we hear what God has to say about what it looks like to be a godly wife and mother. Online, you'll find us at pastorpaul.net, where you can listen to any of our recent messages on demand, including today's. That's pastorpaul.net.
Now. Here's Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message, worth far more than rubies. Yeah, you've heard me talk about that family meeting that my mother called, emergency family meeting. I can picture it as I speak right now. We were at the dining room table, and two kids on one side, two kids on the other, my dad up here at the end, and my mother at this end.
She looked depressed. Deject it. He looked proud. She lifted her head and said, We thought we ought to let you all know that in a matter of months you're going to have a new brother or sister. We looked at her I was I was fourteen I was 14.
I looked at her. I was like, have we taught you nothing? What's the matter with you people? You had a wonderful. situation going on here.
Why, y'all too old to even be. doing that. Young and dumb. I thought they were old.
Now At 66 years old, about to turn 67 in a week from now, I know. Know they weren't old. My mother was about to turn 40. My dad was going to turn 46 by the time this child came. 40 and 46, when he showed up.
But at that table, I say, you gotta be kidding. Gonna mess up the family dynamics. Two boys, two girls. What's better than this? Guess what?
It wasn't a voting meeting. It was an information-only meeting. We're not asking you what you think. We're telling you, in a few months, things are going to change around here. And they did.
But she managed every change. She brought us up with solid home training. Thank God for a mother who just gave us solid home training. I want to tell you, younger 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.
Now, if your kid, if you're a grandparent and your kids already have it, then encourage them as they do it. If they don't have it, when the kid comes over to your house, give them a little home training. Before they go back home, even if they knock like a heathen where they live. When they get to your house, yours ought to be a household of silent hope. Home training.
Yours ought to be one where you say yes and no and you have proper responses when an adult speaks to you and all of that. Teach them something. You're spoiling them and not putting anything in them. Yeah, it's fine. If you want to be a spoiler, do that.
But by all means, put something worthwhile inside of them. We were given solid home training. We were given, we used to call it common sense. My mother used to say, Common sense ought to tell you some things. I shouldn't have to tell you everything.
Common sense, I can hear her saying it now, common sense ought to tell you some things. But you understand now there's nothing common about sense. We aren't straight, the society is straight up crazy. And so we who know sense, we're gonna have to impart it. To our kids and grandkids in a way that they're not gonna catch it out in the world.
So they have to get it at home. And my parents were good for saying when we talk about what somebody else was doing, say they're not from this house. She says, long as your last name is Shepherd, here's the way you're going to behave. When you live in this house. If we till we got saved, we all end up getting saved.
Thank God her five children were at her funeral two days ago, thanking God for them raising us with godly values. All five of us saved and active in doing the will of God. But that was because not only of my dad's preaching, that was because she lived it out in our home and she made sure we behaved ourselves. We couldn't be crazy in her house, it just wasn't going to happen. You didn't have to get saved.
She said she knew you'd get saved when the Lord touched you. But in the meantime, if you're not saved yet, you might as well be. Because in this house, you're going to act like you're saved. That's the way they were. There's certain things you're not gonna do.
You're not gonna come up here smoking and drinking. You're not bringing folks and putting them up in your bedroom, in my house. You know, you just, they just, that's just the way it was. I don't care how cute they are. I mean, these people, these people, they ran the household.
You needed to understand. I remember as a preteen, I was preteen, and I remember. I think I was twelve actually, and I went to um church Camp and I met a girl from Buffalo, New York. And she was pretty, like my dad when he saw his, I saw my mom and they were single. I saw this girl.
Oh, she was pretty. And I, so I'm, I'm at the church camp Mackin and And so, and you know, she, and I, and this is in the day, 12 years old. This is Jackson 5 Day.
So, I had a big afro. And yes, I used to have hair. I had a big afro. And you put the Afro Sheen in it, and it glistened in the sun. And so, you know, I was real impressive.
Just ask me, I'll tell you. I was real impressive back in those days to the young girls. And so she and I started a long-distance thing. And my mother didn't go to that camp meeting. And she said, So, who is this girl?
I see you writing. And I was getting changed. Back in the day, young people never saw it. There were payphones. Because I couldn't call to Buffalo, New York from my daddy's house.
So you had to get you a bunch of change and you put it in the pay phone and all that. And I'm calling her when I could afford it. And my mother saw me running out calling this girl and writing these letters. And she said, Who is this? I said, Yeah, I met her, met her at the camp.
And she saw it back and forth. One day I came home from school and my mail, my letter was open and on my bed. Open and on my bed. I went downstairs. My mother said, I did.
I did. I said, Mom, you're not supposed to open anybody's mail. She said, I needed to know what y'all were talking about. But that's against the law. Tell them to come arrest me.
See, I'm telling you, I grew up. We grew up in the old school. Old school parents weren't worried about no, we didn't know that there was protective services. We never heard that growing up. Honest to God, the first time I ever heard about child protective services, I was in California.
No, no, I was in Philly, but I was a pastor, associate pastor, in Philly. That's when we first started running into child protective service situations. Because we were raised by folk who said, if you are stupid enough to go and tell on me. When all I'm doing is being a good parent. And you go tell them on me, and they, on their way to my house, they would say, It's gonna take them a few minutes to get here.
It's going to take them a few minutes to get here. And by the time they get here, You will never forget. What happened to you? Between me finding out somebody was coming And them showing up. It was going to be a day you would never forget.
That's the world I was raised in. I'm sorry.
Now, some of y'all are mad. Don't send me emails about abuse and all that stuff. I don't need any of that. We weren't abused, but we sure knew who ran things. That's all I'm saying.
She took care of the household. It was a very limited budget. In the 60s, my dad didn't make much money as a pastor. In that church, he came later on in his last part of his pastoral career. He was.
Very handsomely paid, but in those quiet early days, he wasn't paid much. And my mom took that little budget and made it work. Made it work whatever I got to do. Back in those days, they had things like the Spiegel catalog.
Somebody someone come I need some folk for me And they had S and H screen stamps. Y'all got some SNH in you? I'll never forget one day I was at the neighborhood playground, me and a couple of my friends. friends, we had playground and we took our gloves and we were playing catch. And all up at the playground.
And then at one point, we threw him down and we were playing over on the monkey bars and all this stuff. And a boy, I think I was nine, and a boy, he had to be 15 or 16, came, saw my glove, picked it up. I saw him put it on. I yelled out, That's my glove. He said, well, it's not now.
And he walked away. I remember how How much I cried because he was too big, I couldn't do anything. He walked away, and I cried all the way home. And I got home crying. My mama said, What's the matter?
And I told her, This big boy stole my glove. And I'm just crying and carrying on. And she said, All right, son, the Lord's gonna provide. And go into your room, doing, and went on with my day, and cried more. Still ahead, the second half of today's Destined for Victory message featuring the teaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard.
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Well, among the many ways Pastor Paul Shepard's mother spent her time on earth being a devoted wife to her husband and a wonderful mother to her five children, she was also a prayer warrior. The second half of today's Destined for Victory message now worth far more than rupees. By the time I came downstairs, she had had out one of the catalogs. And she was looking at the gloves and she said, which one do you want? One.
And I said, Mom, you can't afford that. She said, I got enough green stamps. And she had the green stamps, and she went down there and got me the glove I wanted. She said now keep this close to you When you go play. Cause some of these boys weren't raised like y'all.
And they will take home something that doesn't belong to them, and their parents aren't gonna tell them it. If we had walked in with somebody's glove. And they said, where did you get that? And we said, Oh, it was on the ground. They would have said, Well, it wasn't yours just because it was on the ground.
You should have left it there. Go, take it back, put it on the same part of the ground you got it from. That's what they'd have told us. All right, anyway, y'all messing up my message. I got to finish up here.
We were raised well. By someone who not only upgraded her husband, but she raised her kids right. She gave us discipline when we needed it. She gave us training when we needed it. That's what chores were about.
They taught us: you don't get money from me because you're cute. We all thought we were cute. None of us got money 'cause we were cute. We got money because we did our chores. She would put a list on the refrigerator, had it held there with a magnet.
Had all of our names, first four of us. I don't think Kenny, I don't know if he ever had a list. Because when we saw her raise them, we said Wait a minute. We we We couldn't have gotten away with that. But by then, she she kind of didn't care.
Uh-huh.
Okay. about some things. She did the necessaries. But you know, some of that stuff was, we said, there's no way we'd have got away with that. But she wasn't worried about it.
She she spoiled her last one, and that was all it was. But we had these chores, and that's why Saturday mornings before we went out romping all around the city, riding our bikes and everything we wanted to do, she said, Get them chores done before you leave this house. Don't you leave this house and I go and see your chores are not done. You will not be happy when you come home. And these people would wake you up in the middle of the night.
I mean, they had ways. They have There were consequences and repercussions. Back in the day. And so and so you had to act right. We were raised right, and I praise God for that.
Last thing, I'm gonna let you go. She excelled as a woman who loved the Lord with her whole heart. Look at verse 30: Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord. Is to be praised. All my life, I knew her as a woman of faith.
All my life, I knew her as a woman who loved God. She didn't just go to church, she loved Jesus, who was the head of the church. And she loved him with her whole heart. She wasn't loud. She wasn't demonstrative.
I never saw my mom what the saints used to call shout in my life. You know, the saints used to call it shouting when you were dancing in church. They said, Oh, she shouted this morning. And I never saw my mother dance in church, never saw that. Then rarely lifted her voice in praise.
She would praise God, but not nearly as loud as many of the other people. But she loved him and she lived a life of faith with quiet passion. Quiet passion is the way I would describe her. She was a worshiper of quiet passion. She was a prayer.
That woman prayed. She didn't have a demonstrative prayer life. If you didn't live in our home, you might not have known it. But if you were on her prayer list, if you were on her call list, she would pray. She prayed for her kids.
She prayed for her church. She prayed for her husband. She prayed for him in the worst times of his life. She prayed through all of the challenges she's ever faced. She knew how to get a hold of God.
Thank God for people who learned that prayer is not cosmetic. Prayer matters. Prayer makes a difference. Prayer will change things. And prayer will change people.
And that woman was praying. Not only did she pray in the good times, but the last six months of her life, she had a major surgery. She had been relatively healthy most of her life, but at 92 years old, or a month before turning 92, the doctor said, We got to have major surgery. There's a tumor pressing against your optic nerve. She was going blurry, and that's what sent her to the hospital.
And they said, We got to immediately operate. And next thing you know, here, this woman who has lived a relatively healthy life has having this surgery right behind her ears, right there at her brain, and very delicate. And she came through it, but when she came out of it, she had lost her sight. And so in May, my mom died in November. In May, she came out of surgery but did not have her sight anymore.
From there, from that hospital, she went to a rehab center and was there for about a month or so. And that's when Gwen left here and went there. And cared for her day and night, stayed with her in the hope, in the rehab center. And Gwen tells me the story of how mom would just wake up. She couldn't see and anything like that, but her mind was still.
And cognitively, she was unclear about some things. Her clarity would kind of come and go. But there were a lot of things she didn't grasp anymore in those last few months of her life. But one thing never left her was her love for the Lord. And Gwen said that She said, it would be the middle of the night in the rehab, and I would wake up because I heard her stirring.
And she said, Mom, you all right? You need to go to the bathroom, whatever. And she sometimes she'd answer, sometimes she wouldn't, but she'd stir. And she said, sometimes she would be trying to get up. And I said, Mom, what you doing?
And she said, my mother proclaimed, God. Is my all in all. And she said, she just said she did that on several occasions. She said, Mom, yes, mom, yes, he is your all in all. But this ain't the time to get up.
Lay back down, baby. And so, what have you? She would get her to lay down for a little while. She said, But a few different times in the rehab center, sight gone, but she's looking at God in her spirit. And she said, God is my all-in-all.
And I just want to close by letting you know that that was her testimony. God was her all in all. She knew him from A to Z. She knew him as Alpha and Omega. She knew him as beginning and the end.
She knew him as the Christ, the Son of the living God. She knew him as her deliverer and everlasting God. She knew him as the faithful witness. She knew him as the God of all flesh. She knew him as the head of the church.
She knew him as the I am that I am. She knew him as Jehovah Jireh. She knew him as the king of kings and the lord of lords. She knew him as the mediator between God and man. She knew him as the name above all names.
She knew him as the omnipotent God. She knew him as the prince of peace. She knew him as the quickening spirit. She knew him as the resurrection and the life. She knew him as.
The sovereign savior and the true and living one. She knew him as the unchanging God. She knew him as the vindicator who said, vengeance is mine. She knew him as the way, the truth, and the life. She knew him as our example in righteousness.
She knew him as Yahweh. And she knew him as Zion's sovereign ruler. But she was a country girl at heart.
So not only did she know all that fancy theological stuff, she knew that when you were hungry, she was the bread of life. She knew that when you were thirsty, he was the water that you would never thirst again. She knew that when you're in a storm, he can be your refuge and strength. She knew that in trouble, he was a present help. She knew that in darkness, he was the light of your world.
She knew that when you're an outsider, he was a door that no man can shut. She knew that if you were wandering, he was the good shepherd. She knew that when you were sick, he was a healer. She knew that when you were broke, he was a provider. She knew that when you are lonely, he's a company keeper.
She knew that when you are weak, he is strong. And she knew that when your head is bowed down, you can lift up your head, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up. Ye ever laughed. Doors because the king of glory will come in.
Somebody said, Who is the king of glory? And the answer came, The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle. He is the king of glory. And that God was her all in all.
So I just want to tell my mama in glory, go on and take your rest. And enjoy the presence of the Lord. I'll be on after a while, not trying to come right now. But after a while I'll be on. And together we will worship.
The God who was You're all in all. Let's stand together. What a great tribute that was. And so much of what Pastor Paul said about his mother can help us as we strive to be good parents and grandparents ourselves.
So glad you stopped by for today's Destined for Victory message, worth far more than rubies. If you joined us late, or if you want to hear the message again, stop by Pastor Paul.net. That's Pastor Paul.net.
Well, when Pastor Paul was teaching the group of messages we're airing now on Destined for Victory, he stopped right in the middle of it and took a one-week detour and inserted a special message that was weighing heavily on his heart. The message is called Sometimes You Have to Encourage Yourself. It's filled with practical advice and as he always did, he delivered that message with his signature humor and down to earth style.
Now this message has never aired before on Destined for Victory. It's not available anywhere else but right here, right now. But this month, in appreciation of your most generous gift, we'll send you this exclusive message as either a D V D or streaming video 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 eight five five three three nine fifty five hundred. 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 1767-4. Fremont, California, 94538. And if you're in need of prayer today, don't hesitate to contact us.
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So, not only are you to do the right thing, But you to do it with the right attitude.
So do you now see what James means when he says, Count it all joy. He said, have a right attitude. while you're going through the trials the way God tells you to go through them. Because that is what is going to produce perseverance. That's tomorrow in our 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.
