That's what being sanctified is: learning how to live a set-apart life. It's a journey. Nobody gets instantly whole in terms of your actions and your deeds. And your words.
Some of y'all saved, sanctified, being sanctified, but some areas haven't been sanctified yet. When you come to faith in Christ, your spirit is regenerated, your flesh is not. and that new spirit is constantly at war with your old flesh. Hello and welcome to another great day here on Destined for Victory, where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard.
Well, part of the sanctification process is that God conforms us to the image of Jesus Christ. The work He does on us really is about the work He does in us and our thoughts and emotions because those things often determine our actions. Today's message on managing our thought life is coming right up. But remember to come see us at pastorpaul.net, where you can listen to any of our recent messages on demand, including today's. That's pastorpaul.net.
No. Here is Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message: becoming an excellent steward of your thought life. Think about positive things. Why? Because positive things will lead to positive actions.
Positive words, positive Actions and a positive lifestyle.
So you want to dwell on things that are positive. I said last week some things are true but not positive. And I want to pick it up there. I talked about Rahab, and we did a word association. I said, Tell me what comes to your mind.
And you all said, The harlot. And that's what we all say. Let's look at it a little more carefully. She was a street businesswoman at one point in her life. But she didn't stay.
Yeah. We got some folk in here who were Fill in the blank. Whatever the blank is. And we got All us got a blank. Don't y'all even try it.
Liar, cheater, stealer. Backbiter, yoga, everybody all y'all got something. Pass your name that represents Your lifestyle prior to coming to Jesus, and let's be even more truthful. And some of us were that while we were with Jesus. We're not perpetrating no frauds up in here.
Getting saved isn't a magic wand. I looked at my hands and my hands looked new. I looked at my feet and they did too. That's gospel singing, that's not truth. When you got saved, your feet looked like they did, your hands looked like they did, and many of your actions were the way they were before you got saved.
That's what being sanctified is: learning how to live a set-apart life. It's a journey. Nobody gets instantly whole in terms of your actions and your deeds and your words.
Some of y'all are saved, sanctified, being sanctified, but some areas haven't been sanctified yet. And so some of y'all are saved, still cussing.
Some of y'all save still. Fill in the blank. Drinking, lying. Whatever it is, God wants to do a work. But the Holy Spirit comes and sits, one of the Old Testament prophets says, as a refiner's fire.
And he's working on stuff. The proof you're saved is not that you're perfect, it's that God won't leave you alone about your imperfections. Oh, this is good. I'm gonna get this CD myself. Oh, that's right.
We're not doing C D's right now.
Well, Get some. We gotta Figure out that God is at work in us and so He is changing us. And we ought to have the testimony that there's some things I used to do, I don't do anymore. Everybody in here ought to be, if you've been saved a good amount of time, there ought to be some things you used to, places you used to go, you don't go anymore. People you used to hang with, you don't hang with anymore.
Because you're learning to think about. Positive things.
So Rahab was a harlot, but when you find her now, she's in the hall of faith. In Hebrews chapter 11. She's in a hall of faith. Your history doesn't have to be your destiny. And if you're in Christ, he is going to guarantee.
Just stay with me. What's one of our main theme songs as a church? He who began a good Work in us. is going to bring it. All the way to completion.
That's why we are destiny. Christian Fellowship. We're headed toward a destiny. Don't just look at where I am, look at where I'm going. Because where I'm going is better than where I am right now.
So, Rahop has one of them. Word association. When I said Bartimaeus, what did you think? Blind. He was blind.
He was blind. Absolutely, he was on the side of the road doing the blind man rock. Looking like Steamy Wonder. But he heard? That Jesus was coming by.
And he said Oh, that's my chance. I've heard some things about this guy. And I know that I can get some.
Something from him that nobody else has been able to offer me. And even if I don't know that he's gonna give it to me, I'm gonna at least give it my best shot. And the Bible says he called out when he heard Jesus was in the vicinity, Son of David. David, have mercy on me. And the disciples who were with Jesus.
Few of them came over. I can imagine who a couple of them were. based on our understanding of them from the Gospels. And Kevin said, You are disturbing Jesus. He's doing important work, and you're standing over here being a nuisance.
And you need to quiet down. And then they walked away. It reminded me of old-fashioned ushers with their hands behind their back. And just in my mind's eye, I see him as ushers, got their little gloves and all that, and his hand behind. Never did figure out what that hand was.
y'all hiding what's my name anyway So Yeah. And they walked away, and the Bible says this man said, Look, this is my chance. I don't care what these people tell me to do. The Bible says he cried the louder, Son of David. Amen.
Have mercy on me. When he cried the second time, Jesus said, wait a minute.
Somebody needs me. I need some of you all to learn the power. Of persuading God, you need something, and you're not going to get out of his face until he gives you what you need. You gotta be like that lady in Luke 18 who went into the courtroom of the unjust judge. The Bible called him an unjust judge.
When you got a judge and you know he's wrong. That's something. But if that's the only judge you got to go before, then that's what you do. She went before him and she said, I must be avenged of my enemies. And that man didn't care about God, didn't care about people.
And so there was no reason for her to believe. But the parable goes on to say she stayed there and refused to leave that courtroom until the judge said, If I'm going to get rid of this lady, I better stop and listen to what she says and take care of this matter for her. It's really not for her, it's for me. I need a little peace of mind. And then Jesus taught that parable to say, we must learn to pray and not give up.
That's what you got to learn to do. Pray and not give up.
Now, if what you're praying about is wrong, you need to get your prayers centered right in the will of God. Because he's not going to give you literally anything you want. But you gotta learn to pray according to his will and according to his name. But you need to learn to pray persistently. That's what Jesus was teaching there.
And so you got to understand, that's the way Bartimaeus took care of this matter. And Bartimaeus said, Look, this is my chance. And he got Jesus' attention. And Jesus said, Go get that man and bring him to me. And then he healed him in that moment.
And yet, here we are. Still calling them blind. I'm just trying to show you our tendencies and proclivities.
Sometimes we latch on. To something we need to update. And she's no longer a harlot. He's no longer blind. When I said Thomas, we most of us said doubting.
He did doubt. He doubted for sure. When all the other disciples were excited about hearing that Jesus was alive. Thomas said, I'm not going to gonna believe it just cause y'all said it. Christians, we need to understand we live in a world where people are saying that.
You are not going to convince me just because of what you say. I need to see some objective evidence, which means we have to learn to walk with God in such a way that He shows up. In our lives, in our circumstances, in our ministries, in such a way that it impacts people and causes them to realize: you know, God is really at work in this situation. That's why church needs to not just be a form, it needs to be. Ushering in the presence of God.
As we worship today, I sense the presence of God. In this place, doing things.
Some of y'all are gonna get home, and God took care of something that you didn't even realize He was gonna take care of because you got into His manifested presence and He took care of something for you. And so, I need you to understand, we got to value the presence of God. In our lives, our everyday lives. Don't go to work by yourself, go with the presence. Don't fool with your relatives by yourself.
Take them with you when you're going. Let the presence be there. You need God to move in your situation.
Sometimes y'all should be standing outside of a house you get ready to go into and say, Lord, you're here with me, right? I've been worshiping you all day. You're still with me, right? Because we need to go in here because you know there's some mess up in here. And you need God to move.
in a powerful way. Still ahead, the second half of today's Destined for Victory message, featuring the teaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard. All of our recent messages, including the series on stewardship you're hearing now, are archived at our website, pastorpaul.net. That's pastor Paul dot net. You can listen also and subscribe to the podcast at Spotify, at Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get podcasts.
Destined for Victory only exists through the faithful prayer and financial support of friends like you, and we're so grateful for all you've done. To give your generous gift now, please visit pastorpaul.net or call 855-339-5500. Jesus told us that we'd have to go through a few storms in this life. Many of them are beyond our control. But sometimes we're the reason the sky gets cloudy.
The second half of today's Destined for Victory message: Becoming an excellent steward of your thought life, starts now. And so Thomas doubted, and he wasn't going to be persuaded just by words. And he said, unless I can literally not only see him, I need to touch him, I need to put my hand where I know his side was pierced. I need to put my hand there. Before I'll be convinced.
And so when Jesus showed up. He looked at Thomas. He hadn't been party to the conversation they had physically, but when you're dealing with God, he's everywhere. And he knew what Thomas was thinking.
So he said, Hey, here you go. Go ahead. And Thomas touched him. And Thomas said, My Lord and my God. He was convinced.
But here's the thing, so why are we still calling him doubting? There was a tendency Those are proclivities we have. To lock in on something not wonderful. And focus on it. One more example.
Naaman. The Leper. in the Old Testament. Naaman was a leper. But the time came When he went to the prophet And said, I've heard that you serve a God who can do anything.
And I want to be free from this. And the prophet told him what to do. Here's where I want you to go. I want you to wash. In that pool, and I want you to dip seven times.
And Naban said, Wait now. Of all the places you could send me, there's some really nice. pristine waters You're gonna send me to some muddy pool. And tell me, do you know who I am? There was no change of the orders, like, oh, well, under those circumstances.
I'm gonna send you to the VIP pool. That's the way some of y'all live your life. Like, you want God to cater to who you think you are. The reality is, you are not who you think you are. You are somebody in need of God's grace, God's mercy, God's help.
You need God in the worst way. Anybody has learned yet that you need God in the worst way. You are nobody for us to be impressed with. I'm getting more and more sick of Christians making heroes out of other believers. We are all saved by grace.
We're all imperfect people trying to become more of who we are.
So, when a preacher has a bad season or makes a terrible error and folk want to vilify him, want to say who did you think he was in the First place. All of us have people who don't want to hear from us because they found out something about the past. And they're deeply troubled.
Well, who who you think is preaching? Jesus He preached already. He'd been gone a long time physically. All of us now are imperfect vessels. Serving a perfect God.
taking his word and delivering it to people. And if you have any sense. You'll take his word not because of who I am, but because of who he is.
Now, we ought to be getting our act together. There is a standard we ought to be living by. All of that is true. But for God's sake, don't make a hero out of a human. And notice all your superheroes had masks and different little things.
Hmm. Meaning you didn't know everything about them in the first place. Said, why you hiding behind the mask if you so wonderful?
So here's the fact. You have to learn that. You are not going to get VIP treatment from heaven. You are a human being. I'm telling people as you exercise your gifts, don't you ever start thinking you are the treasure.
The Bible says it clearly. You are the pot. We have this treasure in an earthen. Vessel.
Now that sounds kind of cute. You know what it means? We have a valuable treasure in a pitiful pot. Pod is not impressive. The treasure is everything.
So you gotta learn to walk humbly before God. You got to learn to recognize your limitations. And stop thinking that you are all that. You're a little bit of that. You know, you have some things that God has blessed you with.
You know, the Bible says think soberly, says, don't think more highly of yourself than you ought.
Well, what should we do? Think soberly.
Soberly. I got some good things. Don't have low self-esteem. That doesn't honor God. Oh, I'm nothing.
Preachers, get up, hide me behind a cross. I know what they mean. We all grew up hearing preachers say, hide me behind the cross, so that only the cross is seen. I know what they mean. I don't say that.
You ain't never heard me pray, hide me behind the cross. No, look at me. Because I'm trying to tell you something that's going to help your life. And I'm not trying to hide behind the cross, but I know what they mean. Don't get hung up on me.
As though I am the example you need to follow. Follow me as I follow Christ, but also recognize when I sometimes go astray myself. Or don't get it right myself. Keep following him. And it took his servant.
Some of y'all need to listen to the people in your life. That you're not all that impressed with. Because sometimes they know a truth you need to buy. And Naaman's servant said, If he had asked you to go to some wonderful place, You'd have been all too happy. Why are you worried about which pool it is?
Why don't you focus on this was a word from a man of God. And why don't you Take your happy hips down there. And dunk seven times. And Naaman knew it was a word.
Sometimes your kids know something you need to watch. And just cause you the parent. Doesn't mean you don't need to listen. And he went on down there, and when he came up. He was healed.
So he's no longer naming the leper. He's now naming the healed. And you gotta understand our tendencies. We learn to latch on the stuff we need to. Get rid of That's why I am not spending my life online.
Let me help you understand something. There is more sin Or online. Than I've ever seen in any Christian setting. In a church, I've seen lots of sin in church and lots of foolishness. There is the volume, the sheer volume of sin.
O Online. Tweets. Emails, messages. Facebook. Instagram.
All the rest of 'em. More sin. That is acceptable sin. Because people are feeling They bought the lie that I'm just saying what's true. Not everything true has to be spoken.
Think about positive things. If I learn something about a colleague, a friend, it might be true. But why am I going to Be glad. over somebody else's misfortune. That doesn't honor God?
And it doesn't honor a person I say God loves.
So just know, I got this. This is not a lie. I got this from a reliable source.
Well, just because you got it from a reliable source. And it's true, verifiably true. doesn't mean it needs to be spoken. Noah got drunk on the eve of reconstruction. God was using him to start the world again.
And Noah got drunk. His sons When they found Pop is naked didn't want to look at his nakedness. And the Bible says they covered him up walking backwards. Because it's like we are not going to enjoy watching somebody else in a miserable state. You know, the reason we sometimes stumble in our behavior is because we stumbled in our thought life, and that usually comes down to one of two things.
Either we don't have enough faith in God, or we have too much faith in ourselves.
So glad you stopped by for today's Destined for Victory message, Becoming an Excellent Steward of Your Thought Life. If you joined us late, or if you want to hear the full message one more time, stop by pastorpaul. net. That's pastorpaul. net.
Well, when Pastor Paul was teaching this group of messages we're airing now on Destined for Victory, he stopped right in the middle of it. He took a one-week detour and inserted a special message that was weighing heavily on his heart. That 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 the message is never aired 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 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. and you can give that gift by phone by calling eight five five three three nine five five zero zero eight five five three three nine fifty five hundred or visit Pastor Paul dot 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. Here at Destined for Victory, we believe in the power of prayer, and we're always happy to pray for you. Please use the contact feature at the top of our home page at pastorpaul.net and share your request with us. That's pastorpaul.net. Whatsoever things are true, not all of them need to be said.
Look at the rest of the list. Whatsoever things are true, but also noble, right, pure, lovely. Admirable, he kept on Excellent, praiseworthy.
Now, so run all your stuff before you go online. Is what I'm about to tweet not only true, but noble. That's tomorrow in our continuing Destined for Victory message: becoming an excellent steward of your thought life. Until then, remember. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.
In Christ, you are destined for victory.
