Some things I'm afraid that if I indulge, I won't have the control I want to have. Oh, I'm talking good.
Sometimes it's not sin, but I have difficulty in this area. Any of y'all been honest enough with yourself to say, there's some stuff I could do, but I need to stay away from that. Cause it where it takes me. All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. That's 1 Corinthians 10, 23.
And this is Destined for Victory, where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard.
Well, we're right in the middle of a group of messages about striving for unity in the body of Christ. That is God's desire for us, and we should desire it for ourselves. Today, you'll hear about some of the disagreements Christians sometimes have. Calvinism versus Arminianism. our style of worship and Sunday service, whether or not it's okay to drink alcohol.
We'll be encouraged not to let our differences become divisions. 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, the call to unity. I'll never forget I ran into a real hyper-Calvinist in my previous pastorate, and he was so hyper, he didn't even think you should do altar calls because God is the one who does the drawing, because the Calvinist says if you're going to be saved, you're going to be saved no matter what. Under no circumstances could you be lost. And so he was so hyper, he didn't fully understand his own theological position. He thought, so you shouldn't have an altar call.
Like, what's the point? Because you can't call him, God has to call him. and I so when he came to me with that I said I said do you see these people getting saved every week for 12 years the last 12 years of that church there was never a single weekend when no one got saved I said do you see these people getting saved every week you want to tell me I'm not supposed to give an altar call and you're seeing people respond well and then he went into his theology I said your theology has nothing to do with whether somebody should be invited to accept Christ Your theology just says those who are called inwardly by the spirit of God are going to respond. And those who aren't called inwardly, I can stand up there all night and they're not going to come. I said, but what's wrong with it?
Oh, no, you shouldn't just be doing.
So I didn't know it back then. What I was thinking was there are three places you can stay free of charge. I didn't know it back then. there are three places you can stay free of charge out of my business in your lane somewhere over there pick one and go there he didn't get it we should invite people to Christ I'm not saying I'm the one that's going to get you to accept Christ the Holy Spirit is the one that's going to do that but I am the vessel he uses how many of us got saved because somebody preached the gospel to us. Because somebody, listen, before that, how many got saved because somebody prayed for me?
Oh, forget the altar call.
Somebody prayed for me, had me on their mind, took the time and prayed for me.
So I'm not fighting with Calvin versus Arminian. We all want to see people come to Jesus. Let's stick with that. Worship styles. Loud worship versus quiet worship.
There are people who make a big deal about that. That's not my job to tell you how to worship God. Worship him however he has blessed you. To whom much is given, much is required. To those that love much.
I mean, it's just who have been forgiven for much. They have much love. you've got to understand God is not as concerned about some of this stuff we get hung up on so when I grew up I was saying it I think the last time in the church I grew up with there was people who would sometimes just break out and loud demonstrative oh praise God hallelujah and just really carry on we just called it oh sister so-and-so got happy today we were kids we just called it getting happy, but it was part of what happens sometimes at church. And so, but here's the problem. I know what it is to see people come into a fellowship where folks do things very differently than where you came from.
And so when the loud saints would get loud and the people who came to us from a, from a quiet, somber church, they would hit the panic button. What is all this? and you know one time a couple one of my prominent couples came because a sister had broke out that Sunday and they said we had guests with us I'm telling I'm telling you what actually happened they came to me saying we had guests with us they were embarrassed that their guests came on a Sunday when one of the sisters broke out. And they wanted me to do something about it. And I said, let me help you.
I'm glad you're coming to me. Let me help you understand. That is her way of praising God. And you call it screaming. I get it.
But that was her way of giving voice to it. I said, I cannot ask her to praise differently so that you and your friends can be happy. I can't do that. All I ever done throughout my pastoral career if somebody gets happy in the service and gets loud and every now and then it is everybody else has died down in this one and still go ah ah just carrying on I had that happen sometime And I over the decades I just instructed one of the we call them hospitality assistants Now Urshers back in the on the day people used to put with an R in there There no R in us Urshers I would just point to them and they would just carry the breakout person out while they still breaking out and take them on to the out into the hallway and let them work it out out there. And then when they tell them when they get when they settle down, come on in and catch the rest of the service.
No big deal. But I'm not going to shut everything down because you come from a church. The Lord is in his holy temple. let all the earth be silent before him. Yeah, that's in the Bible.
That's in certain places of the Bible. You got to understand the context. There was a time and a place where it was a solemn assembly. Let's be silent before God. But if it's rejoicing time and especially black folk around, but it's not just us.
I've been to some white churches where they break out. I really have.
so it's not unique to us. And they know how to get down with to get down and worship. The Bible said, let Mount Zion rejoice. You don't have to make her rejoice. Just sometimes let her rejoice.
Just let folk go forward. When they think of the goodness of Jesus and all that he's done for them, their souls cry out, hallelujah. Thank God for saving me. you just got to let them let them go for it sometimes and um so we we got to learn let other people be who they are you be who you are and don't tell me about dignity i've been to the ball game with y'all you're not dignified you're a hypocrite because you go to the ball game and act crazy, hollering. Nobody should say, you hollering, you hollering.
No, you just rejoice how you rejoice, get happy how you get happy. Worship styles shouldn't decide anything. Doctrinal disagreements about disputable things.
Some believers, most of us are in Trinitarian churches. We believe the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit are not only all God, but are distinctive persons within the Godhead. All God, one in essence, three in person is what we say in Trinitarian theology. But there are brothers and sisters who are in oneness churches. And oneness churches believe, yes, the Father, Son, Holy Spirit are all God, but they are one in essence and person and not three distinctive father, son, Holy Spirit.
They say those are manifestations of who God is, but they don't have coexistence. And so there are some debates I've seen in the body of Christ over oneness versus Trinitarian. We shouldn't do that. I preach at oneness churches because they know they can trust me and they're pooping. I'm not going to come in there trying to prove to y'all that the father, son, and Holy spirit all have distinctive personhood.
That's not my job. You ask me to come down and preach. Y'all need to know something, how to live. I'm going to give you that.
So I preach at one of those churches, but it's because I can be trusted. They know I'm going to keep the main thing, the main thing, but you know, we're not going to debate about that. You acknowledge father's God, son's God, Holy spirit's God. we can have fellowship. Even if you don't like the breakout that the Trinitarians make.
I think that's thoroughly biblical. You see it differently. I'm not going to disfellowship you over it. We have to learn how to broaden ourselves when it comes to these kind of disputes so as to maintain unity. Lifestyle choices.
I grew up, Church of God, historically, holiness church. Holiness. no drinking no smoking no you know alcohol of any sort no this and that and the other holiness and so that's what i grew up with i grew up hearing saints don't drink so you know that was my hold so later on when i got old enough to um to to see things from a broader perspective i'd go to a wedding reception and they'd have champagne that they're toasting the couple and then you know early on it's like oh no no the saints say you can't drink that so you sit there and watch them because it wasn't being done of faith it was being done because you didn't understand the issue 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 today's, are archived at our website, pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net.
You can also listen and subscribe to the podcast at Spotify, at Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Destined for Victory continues to come your way each day only because of the prayers and financial support of people just like you. To give your generous gift now, please visit PastorPaul.net or call us at 855-339-5500. Is it okay for Christians to drink alcohol? Reasonable minds can disagree, but you're about to hear one man's opinion as well as the scriptures that support it.
The second half of today's Destined for Victory message, The Call to Unity, starts now. I told y'all when I first started preaching as a young man and doing these youth meetings and I did one service and I preached and this guest group sang and we all went and they took us all out to eat afterwards and then people sang really well And we got to the restaurant and they ordered dinner wine And I was messed up. I'm like, what? Y'all were just anointed in there. And now you're drinking wine?
And I didn't have a frame of reference for it. And they were still anointed as they sipped. You see what I mean? I had to learn that had nothing to do with their faith. Their understanding was that I can drink in moderation.
They knew that we are not to get drunk, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit. They knew all that. They knew all the scriptures. I could quote them. They could quote them too.
They said, could we live in by that? It didn't say no wine. it just said don't get drunk so if you go up to okay this is about it you see what I'm saying and they were okay with that I had to learn it was okay I choose to not drink because in this crazy world I want to be as sober as humanly possible so it's my personal choice but I hang out with a lot of sipping saints and contrary to what some of the holiness folk you said they said sipping saints are slipping saints not necessarily if you slipping that's you probably need to deal with it at that level that you don't have control like you want to have but let's broaden see here's how you learn to walk in unity just broadened, just paying out.
Some of them same saints who were deaf on cigarettes and drinking can't walk past a refrigerator. Like wait, what's the issue here? Cause you out of control when it comes to eating. They in control. You just don't like what they drink.
Who got the problem? Oh, let me give it to you better than that. You worried about them drinking alcohol.
Some of y'all can't speak to folk in the morning till you have coffee. Who has the drinking problem? come on let's just be honest you don't grow if you won't be honest if you can't even speak if your whole family know leave you alone till you had two cups well who has the drinking problem this one person with that little dinner wine enjoying themselves still sober still doing fine and you need all this coffee so we need to just understand And some things are not worth dividing over. Poverty versus prosperity. One of the fights.
And some people are so mad that there are Christians who just believe God's going to prosper them and all that. Yeah, some people believe in excess.
Some people believe that, you know, they take it overboard. They call it a prosperity gospel. Yeah, no, all things in moderation. anybody who's walked with God knows God has promised to supply our needs as we seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and God's not against prosperity God loves to prosper his people he's done it in Old Testament and new but you go overboard when you say Christians have no business being broke some choose to walk in poverty I've met folk who have taken vows of poverty I've met folk who divest in order to move into the hood, for instance, and do evangelism. I've met with them.
I was on the board of a ministry that's like that. I could be on their board because I know their hearts. They want to win people. But I would also use that position to correct them when they would start talking a little bit too much about the prosperity of people. I'll never forget, I was on the board and I pulled up in that season of the early years of my pastoral.
I wasn't blessed at the level where I am now and so I drove a real modest car and I pulled up and one of the guys on the board said oh my goodness I'm so glad to finally see a preacher in this neighborhood who's not driving a Cadillac and I said well this is what I can afford and I'm going to be faithful over it but hang around give me a little time I plan to roll a little differently than I'm rolling now and I took the time to explain to him why I said because I was living in East Palo Alto at the time it was before even the gentrification that's in part happened there There's still a lot of the same dynamics, urban dynamics that I lived in. But I said, I live here and we're trying to reach young people in this. And they're seeing the people they're seeing prosper are the criminals because they don't have broad exposure. I said, I plan for them to see a pastor they trust. Drive like that, but have his head straight and still helping the poor.
and I said I'm trying to get them to go to school and to do it right so that they can prosper and there no problem and he said oh I said yeah so don don throw off on everybody who driving nice you took a vow of poverty so you could work in the hood God bless you We didn have to take a vow I told him, I said, we didn't have to take a vow. This was life. But we've learned in the word, he that will be faithful over a few things. God has the ability to prosper you. And so we need to learn to stop fighting these stupid fights.
Allow for honest differences of opinion. Not everybody has to see everything like you in order for you to have fellowship with them. Let them see it how they, I just think it's important. That's what you think. Let them walk with God.
Do you trust the Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit can tell.
Sometimes what we restrict ourselves from, it's not because it's sin. It's because the Holy Spirit says that's not for you. Remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6 and another time in 1 Corinthians 10, he said, all things are lawful for me. He was using a quote of his day. All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable.
All things are lawful for me. And in one place he said, but I will not be brought under the power of it.
Sometimes I can do something. It's not sin. I can do it, but I choose to not do it.
Some things I'm afraid that if I indulge, I won't have the control I want to have. Oh, I'm talking good.
Sometimes it's not sin, but I have difficulty in this area. Any of y'all been honest enough with yourself to say there's some stuff I could do, but I need to stay away from that. Cause it where it takes me. Some of y'all know some things take you in your head where you don't need to be. It's not that it's sin, but where it takes you up here.
You say, oh no, I don't like the way that that has me thinking and feeling.
So you have to have your own guardrails. it's wonderful when the Holy Spirit helps you put up your own guardrails and you don't go around condemning everybody who doesn't have those guardrails just say Lord thank you that you taught me I need to stare clear of that so that my witness can stay strong so that my life can stay the way God wants it my focus my attitude my disposition stays where it needs to be and I'm not going to condemn everybody who does it differently than me, but I am going to let the Holy Spirit lead me because he knows where he's taking you. Yea, though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death sometimes, don't fear because he's going to bring you out to a prepared place for you. And the place he's prepared for you might be different than the place he's prepared for me. But to get there, the route he takes you might be different than the route he takes me.
and at the end of the day stop judging folks over differences of opinion I see that differently than you but I respect your right I know God knows how to deal with you and I'm not your judge nothing damages relationships quite so easily or so thoroughly as pride we'll pick it up right here next time in our continuing message The Call to Unity Well, when Pastor Paul Shepard was teaching the group of messages where he 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. 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. is 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 DVD 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 Destin 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 Psalm 3417 says that when the righteous cry for help the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles So if you need prayer today our ministry team would be happy to join you. Use the contact feature at the top of our homepage at PastorPaul.net and share your prayer request with us. That's PastorPaul.net.
I'm deeply concerned about how arrogant many of my colleagues and many of their churches are, where we have come to just treat with disdain people and things because they're not in our camp, whatever that camp is. And I just think that so dishonors the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's tomorrow in our continuing Destined for Victory message, The Call to Unity. Until then, remember, He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.
Thank you.
