So, not only are you to do the right thing, But you're 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. What if I told you the Christian life would be harder if the Christian life were easier? Hello and welcome to Destined for Victory, where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard.
You know, if we never went through hard times, we'd rarely, if ever, experience any real spiritual growth. But God wants us to do more than lean on Him when the going gets tough. He wants us to have the right attitude the whole way through that valley. Because ultimately, God wants to develop the right mindset in us, not just the right behavior. Remember, come see us at pastorpaul.net to listen to Destined for Victory on Demand.
That's Pastor Paul.net. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, at Spotify, or wherever you enjoy podcasts.
Now, here's today's Destined for Victory message: Becoming an excellent steward of our trials.
Now let's go to 2010. The second The remake of the karate kid. This a black kid. He and his mama move clear. to China.
And his mama Tarazi P. Hinston. Moved her son. Who was Jaden? Smith.
of the Will Smith family. They go to China. And He's Very Disrespectful To his mamma. In ways that a lot of kids can be, you know, most kids learn what the boundaries are. And like, okay, that's what now I better not go past that.
Most kids know that. But they work all the way up to it. Come on. And so He was that kind of kid, so she would tell him what to do and how to do it, and most of the time he'd ignore her. And when it came to this little thing of picking up his jacket.
And hanging it up. He would just come in throw it down. Go on to his room or whatever. She said, Go in there and pick up that. And she fussed like a lot of parents fuss and, you know, and.
So, but he wants to learn karate. And the master in that one is a guy, it's Jackie Chan, the actor. But he was Mr. Han. In the movie.
Same kind of scenario through a series of events. They Meet up. And he understands Han knows karate, and he's wants him to teach him. And so eventually Han promises. To teach the youngster martial arts.
And he says, I'm gonna start. with this jacket. Because he noticed him coming in, throwing the jacket down, his mother fussing. And so Hans said. Pick up jacket.
Hang it up. And so the boy did it, thinking, okay, I'll do this because he's going to teach me karate. All right, now. And so he says, throw it down. And he threw it down.
He said, pick it up. He picked it up. Hang it up. He hung it up. Throw it down.
Throw it down. Pick it up. And he did that. Until Dray Understood This guy is not going to Boss me around like this. and get my cooperation And so he immediately cops an attitude.
And Hans eventually teaches him That not only will I not accept you disrespecting your mother's house. and your mother's rules. And then he started adding. Smile. Pick it up.
Hang it up. Throw it down. Pick it up. Hanging up. Then he says, smile.
Throw it down. Pick it up. Hang it up. Smile. And you know Dre was like, so not only.
Does this man act like he my daddy or something? He is actually telling me what I have to do. With my own Body And that was the very Point. Because Hines said That you should not only learn to complete the task I'll be teaching you. I'm going to insist.
That you complete them. with the right attitude. And the smile will be proof. That you are gonna look right. While you're doing right.
What are y'all doing? That Either isn't complying to begin with, Or it's complying. But your attitude stinks. Fact, some of y'all came in here today. And you think you've been doing God's will, you've been doing a little bit of it.
Not nearly as clearly as he wants. But your attitude, God is looking right at. And he is very displeased. He says, some of y'all act like I. I'm your servant.
And you got this all wrong. You are my slave. And when you are my slave, you got to understand, I saved you because I love you, and I didn't make you a slave to make your life miserable. I made you my slave so that all that I want to extend to you and bestow upon you, you will do while glorifying me every day of your life.
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. It's time for us to get out of this mindset of thinking it is all about us. We're coming up on the Christmas season. Parents, y'all, this would be a good time for you to not only learn how to walk with God and grow and mature yourself, teach your children, start them on the path of maturity.
You do what I say, you get your Christmas. You don't get your Christmas 'cause you cute. I'm just telling you the old-fashioned way. Y'all stay new fashion. Oh, but my child needs a Christmas.
Okay. Don't start on me on what your child needs. Your child needs a few minutes with me. But I realize some of y'all are not ready for that, so we're not going there. Don't worry.
Pastor, not gonna jack your child. But I grew up with folks when they saw these bad children out in the street going, you know, back in our day, we were in Woolworth. F. W. Woolworth.
Some of y'all don't know what I just said. And and you see the bad kid in Woolworth and what have you. And back in my day, your mother, who raised you right, was saying, Look at the other kid, just showing out in the store. She said, Honey, if he was mine for three minutes Yeah. Just give me three minutes.
I'll give them back to you. And some of y'all getting right now, you compiling your stuff now, getting ready to go out and buy all this stuff. And child, you've been telling child, put out the trash all year long and just ignoring them, won't even put the trash in the bin so you can put it out or anything like that. And then here they're going to come with a list in a little while. Back in my day, it would have been like, I've been telling you to put out the trash all year long, and you haven't done it.
Tell you what, take that list and put that in the trash. Oh, but that's abusive, Pastor. That's. You're emotionally, psychologically abusing. All right.
You go on and do it that way. But I'm telling you God is up to something in our lives. But he refuses to bless a bunch of spiritually spoiled kids. Cheers alone. He wants you to grow up.
Don't go away. The rest of today's Destined for Victory message featuring Pastor Paul Shepard is coming right up. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. That's why Destined for Victory is here, to teach timeless truth for a victorious life by pointing people to Jesus Christ. You can help.
Stop by pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. That's pastorpaul.net. Or call 855-339-5500. God wants you to live the Christian life with the right attitude. That means aligning your actions, your thoughts, and your emotions with the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Now, here's the rest of today's Destined for Victory message: becoming an excellent steward of our trials. Getting old is not becoming mature. And being saved for years doesn't mean you're spiritually mature. In fact, some folk been in church a long time. and they're the worst folk in the church.
Because they got comfortable. with immaturity. Comfortable. With having a bad attitude, comfortable. With not learning how to solve their differences with other people biblically, comfortable.
learning how to disrespect leadership. And because I'm not the kind of pastor who's going to come and make it hard for you, you think you got away with disrespecting leadership, and you didn't. Because God was looking at you. He's the one who said, I got a plan you're not following. And so you got to understand there is a way that seems right to a man, especially the modern thinking of people.
Everybody does what they want to do. We are all accountable to God. Everything you say, everything you do, and the attitude with which you say and do it. You're accountable to God. And so I've Want to make sure you understand that there is no way we can please God and receive what He has for us.
without making the commitment of these karate Kids Who committed themselves. And you know, when you get to all they had to go through. And they go through not only the training, but they got to learn how to deal with their enemies appropriately. You can't just do anything with your enemies just 'cause they're your enemies. You got to understand, God, He made Job pray for his friends.
Who were not the least bit helpful to him through his whole trial. He said, Before I bless you, before we always come out, I'm going to a new dimension, I'm going to a new level. We always go on dimensions and levels. Oh my goodness, oh, did we go in here and there and yon? Listen, you got to understand, God said, I'm not taking you up there with your bad attitude and your immaturity.
And he told Job, I. I want you to pray for them. God will sometimes bring you to the place where your enemies finally are at your feet. And then they'll say, I didn't put 'em there so you could step on 'em. I didn't do that at all.
You know the Joseph story. When them brothers who sold him as slaves thought he was dead. When they came hungry, God said, Okay, this is time for you to show that I've been working in you. Because throughout that that story, it says the Lord was with Joseph. He kept practicing the presence of God, even going through stuff he didn't like and didn't understand.
I'm a slave, but I still got to practice the presence of God. I'm now a prisoner, but I still got to practice the presence of God.
Now I'm working for the Pharaoh, but I still got to practice the presence of God. And so, when his brothers show up and they're looking for food, the flesh would say, Oh, yeah, you need to remind them of who you are and what they did. But the Holy Spirit said, I sent them here so you could preserve a posterity in the earth. For the people that I raised up, this is not about you, this is about me. They can't be your enemies, they are my children.
They were my disobedient children, but they were my children. And I use their hatred to bless them in order to bless them through their hatred. I had to bless you. And you had to grow up. And once you were at the right place, there they are.
And he says, This is God. In fact, he told them Y'all didn't send me here to Egypt. You were the one used, the ones used. You actually didn't send me here. God wanted me here.
God wanted me here. And he just, y'all just bought my ticket. to the place of destiny.
Now that would sound fine. But when somebody buys you a ticket to slavery, That doesn't feel very fine. And I'm telling you, God's ways are not your ways. His thoughts are not your thoughts. You who feel picked on by God, you who feel ignored by God.
I've been praying, praying, praying. He heard them all. There's not a single prayer you prayed the Lord didn't hear. Heard them all. But he said, I'm going to accomplish my purpose.
In your life. This is not about you. This is about me because when I get you where I want you to be. Then I will bless you and you will be responsible with the blessing.
Some of y'all want God to make you prosperous, financially prosperous. And he said, I can't even get you to pay your tithes now. And you think I'm a prosper? You give you more to abuse? And statistically, Those of us who've been in church work for decades, we know statistically the more people earn, the less percentage-wise they give.
To the kingdom of God.
Some people gave more when they made less, percentage-wise. And now that they broke off real good, They give God. Smaller percentages. You need to reverse that. The more he blesses you, the more you bless the kingdom.
I can tithe. I cannot tithe only. I can't do it. He's been too good. You bragging?
No, I'm testifying. He's been too good. I have to give more. More than a tithe. Because he's been more than good.
Anybody, God been more than good to you? He hasn't just been good, he's been more than good. And I'm not just talking financially.
Some of y'all still waiting on your financial ship to come in. Don't just look at that. Look at how He's blessed you in every other area of your life.
Some of y'all shouldn't even be here. The enemy had you on the hit list a long time. And God stepped in and said, not so. I'm not finished with them. I'm still putting them through the paces.
Cause I got plans for them, but first I gotta teach them to submit. And to do it with the right attitude. And so verse four says to you, let perseverance finish its work. And the slower you learn, the more you're going to have to go through. I found out something about God.
He's not in that big a hurry. I've been going through this a long time.
Well, you better get it right. Because he's not like some teachers, he's not going to pass you on to the next grade, and you didn't complete all the assignments at disk level. I grew up in the days where kids would get we called it left back. Yes, y'all don't know. We grew up in the public schools in Philly.
I'd be in a fifth-grade line, and all of us pretty much our class was together in the fourth grade and fifth grade with first day of fifth grade. We all together, and I'd look around, look for Jimmy, and he's not there. And finally, I asked somebody, where's Jimmy? They said, oh, he is the fourth grade. He got left back.
He didn't do it right. And the teacher said, I'm not sending them to fifth grade. And he doesn't know how to read at the right level, and he doesn't know arithmetic at the right level, and he doesn't know grammar at the right level.
So send him back. Till he learns something. And God God is saying the same thing to you. If you're going to be a baby Huey, you're as big as you're supposed to be, and you shut it. I'm sorry, y'all don't know about baby Huey.
Come on, I need old school people who can tell them about baby Hewitt. It was this big old duck. Biggest thing in the yard. But he had a bow. Yeah.
He had a diaper. And I'm here to tell you, God is not graduating baby Hueys. He's going to make you grow up and learn and mature. And humble yourself. and take down when you feel like fighting.
But one of these days. If you go through the paces right, you'll look back and say, Lord, thank you. That you didn't just bless me. While I was immature. And self-focused.
You took your time and brought me along.
So that the ride up, God's taking you all up. Oh, he got you got some higher heights you're gonna go to. But my daddy used to say, God wants to take you right so that when you go up, the trip up doesn't make you dizzy. You ever seen somebody who got too much too fast? Not from God, I'm just saying at a job.
You ever seen somebody promoted who didn't earn the promotion? You ever seen somebody they the supervisor and they didn't come up through the ranks? And now they bossing folk around and never knew what to do. themselves And God says, I'll never do that to my kids. I'm going to get you ready.
So when I promote you. You're not even tempted to do anything else, but glorify me. and advanced by kingdom. And let the world know. Who I am.
Let's stand it. Thanks so much for being here with us on Destined for Victory. Today's message, Becoming an Excellent Steward of Our Trials as well as any of our recent messages, are available on demand at our website, pastorpaul.net. While you're there, be sure to check out our online store for some great resources to help you grow in your Christian faith, including books and video messages from Pastor Paul Shepard. That's pastorpaul.net.
Well, when Pastor Paul was teaching the group of messages we're hearing now on Destined for Victory, he stopped right in the middle of it, 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. But this month, in appreciation of your most generous gift to Destined for Victory, we'll send you this exclusive message as either a D V D or streaming video link. Again, it's called Sometimes You Have to Encourage Yourself, and it's one of the last messages Pastor Paul ever preached. It's only available right here for your most generous donation to Destined for Victory. 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 have to have strong faith because you will go through trouble. The more you live in this world, the more you're going to go through some things.
But if your faith is strong, God will bring you all the way through it. Trials aren't fun, but with Jesus, they're formative. Join us next time for our 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.
