Sometime you're in the meantime in Babylon because of your disobedience.
Sometimes you're in the meantime in Egypt. And you're there in Egypt because you didn't do anything wrong. What's this? All I had was a dream from God, all I had was good plans. That God seemed like He wanted to bless?
How do you go from being a dreamer? To being a slave. If you're the reason the skies grew cloudy, you can't get mad at the rain. But sometimes a storm comes even when you've done nothing wrong. Hello, and thanks for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory, where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard.
If you find yourself living in the meantime, stuck somewhere between the past and the promise, We've got a great word of encouragement for you today. It doesn't matter how you got into the mess you're in, God isn't looking for someone to blame, He's looking for someone to redeem. Remember to come pay us a visit at pastorpaul.net, where you can hear any recent message on demand, including today's. That's pastorpaul.net.
Now, let's listen closely to Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message. What to do in the meantime? Joseph had the whole house running. I mean, everybody's clicking on all cylinders. House going well, God blessing a heathen house.
He blessed Potiphar's house. Potiphar's house is running well. All is going great. But when things are going great, you got to learn to keep walking by faith, not by sight. You know why?
Because whenever God's working, the enemy's somewhere also working. And they say, Oh, this household going too good. And he said, Who can I use? And he saw Sister Potiphar. And he went and sat on her shoulder.
Said, Mm, look at that young man From Canaan. The Bible says He was well built and handsome. When the Bible The people says you're well built and handsome. Come on, sisters. When y'all read that, you just say.
Even the Bible says he well built pastor. How many well-built and handsome brothers I got in here right now? I always get a few takers when I do that. Pray for him. Pray for him.
She saw him. She said, The Lord is my shepherd. I see what I want. Potiphars at work all the time. And this man is in this house all the time.
We're gonna make this happen. Sister Potiphar said Come with me. We're going to bed. Joseph said, No, can't do it. But the Bible said Day after day She kept coming.
You know, some folk, when you take a single stand of integrity, They're not gonna work on just one single stand. Cause some folk get excited with your integrity. They'd be like, oh, integrity. I always did like somebody with a little integrity. It's more fun when you break him down.
You want a little challenge with it. You know, some of y'all, see, see, you sit up here looking holy. You sisters sit up here looking holy right now. But y'all know exactly what I just said.
Some of y'all know what clothes to put on. See, stop it, stop it. Y'all know some of y'all, you don't wear them anymore, but y'all remember you had hoochie clothes. Oh, he's gonna see this. She started working her wardrobe and going after him day after day.
And the Bible says he continued to refuse her or even be with her, one line says. Which is what some of us have to learn. If you truly want to avoid temptation, you've got to quit shopping at Temptation Mall.
Some of y'all say you want to live right. But you're always window shopping. Mm. If you keep going to the mall, you're going to buy something. How many know you don't keep window shopping sooner or later?
Later. A sale gonna come through.
Sooner or later, everything must go. Come on, come on. I'll try to help some folks.
Sooner or later. Buy one, get two. And so he's trying to avoid her, but he works in the house. One day she finds him. See like, okay.
This little cat and mouse game been fine, but today We're gonna get this done. She grabbed him by his clothing. with determination. She said, come with me. And in order to preserve his integrity, He had to run out of his clothing.
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for helping me. Joseph was the original Forrest Gump. Whoa.
Run, Forest, run. Joseph had to run.
Some of y'all got to learn to run. The Bible says, flee youful lust. It doesn't say pray about youthful lust. It doesn't say rebuke. Youthful lust.
Doesn't say rationalize youthful lust. Explain that, no, I'm already married. Youthful. No, I'm single and want to preserve. The Bible says, Roar.
Nah, I know you brothers, that's not macho. For us to run. I ain't no punk. Better to be a punk. As the enemy is whispering in your ear, who holds on to your integrity.
Then to get broken down talking about it, I can take it.
Okay.
Next thing you know, Sister Potter for gonna be like, you want cheese and your eggs. Yo, quit acting like you don't know what I just said. The next morning she up humming in the kitchen.
Sometime you're in the meantime in Babylon because of your disobedience.
Sometimes you're in the meantime in Egypt. And you're there in Egypt because You didn't do anything wrong. What's this? All I had was a dream from God. All they had was good plans.
That God seemed like he wanted to bless? How do you go from being a dreamer? To being a slave. Now Sister Potter's mad. She said, Oh, okay.
So you're going to take this integrity thing that far? And you're gonna deny all this? Come on, we gotta work through this. Her feelings are hurt. Her ego is broken.
But a woman scorned See here the moans. See, like Uh-uh, boo. This ain't over till I win. And if I can't have you the way I want you. I'm a destroyer.
She holds on to the cloak he had to run out of. Till Potiphar gets home. Pulls up in his Mercedes, goes in the garage. Comes out, she starts crying crocodile tears. He said, Hey, what's the matter?
And she starts crying and explaining to him That slave you brought in this house. Tried to make sport of me. That slave you trust around this house. Tried to rape. Me.
When Potiphar heard it, the Bible says. He was angry. Had Joseph thrown in jail. Anybody ever went from bad to worse? I'm already a slave when I used to be in great shape.
Now I I'm a convict. Charged with a felony. Felony charge, attempted rape. And now I'm in jail. For something I didn't even do.
Somebody's listening to this message saying, I don't believe God did me like this. I don't believe the Lord. Said he had a plan for me, hope, and a future, and I didn't even do anything wrong. I came to tell you, that's the mean time for some of you. But God is the God.
not only of the good times He's the God of the meantime. He's with you when you're in the middle. Don't know when you're gonna get where you're going or how you're gonna get there. He is in charge. In Babylon, when you've been wrong.
and in Egypt when you haven't done anything wrong. There's one more place. You can be in the meantime. Bible calls it the wilderness. Wilderness is where Moses took the people after they miraculously crossed the Red Sea on dry land.
They cross over, God parts the water so well, so miraculously, that when they pass through what used to be the Red Sea, the water's up on walls on either side. and they're walking on dry land. Don't go away. We have more of today's Destined for Victory message coming up next. We want to thank all of you who support Destined for Victory with your prayers and financial support, gifts that help us keep this media ministry going.
If you'd like to join us in our mission to take the gospel to all corners of the globe, please consider making a safe and secure donation at our website, pastorpaul.net, or give us a call at 855-339-5500. Again, 855-339-5500. You know, God has a long history of turning messes into miracles, brokenness into blessedness, and He can do that for you. Here's the rest of today's message. What to do in the meantime?
If you've never experienced it, God is still a miracle-working God. He can do things that defy explanation. He can do things you said. This doesn't make sense on any level. There's no way to account for what's happening in my life, but God did it.
Some of you are working on a Red Sea job. I don't even know how I got this. I don't have the qualifications. I don't have the education, but somehow they put me here anyway.
Some of you are living. a blessed life and you can't even account for it. But when they get over on the other side... That's where the trouble starts. Why?
Because they've left Egypt, they've left the worst of it, slavery. They're supposed to be headed to Canaan, the promised land. Lamb flowing with milk and honey. Blessings abound. They're out of Egypt.
And they're in the wilderness. But for whatever reason They aren't able to embrace The Promise of Canaan. Canaan scares them. Canaan intimidates them. They've seen God work miracle after miracle.
when they were slaves.
Now that they're freed from slavery. They don't know how to access the same miracle working power. To believe for what they've never seen. It's one thing to see God work in your past. It's another thing to trust him for miracles in your future.
They only know what he's done. They don't know how to access his miracle-working power for where he's taking them. They should have been able to say, Well, the same God who brought all those plagues on Pharaoh, the same God who parted that sea and we walked through on dry land, that same God can take care of these giants. For whatever reason, when they heard about giants, And walled cities They said, we can't do that. That's why you got to learn.
To trust God in every phase of your life.
Some of you used to trust him better than you do right now. You used to believe him for answers to prayer better than you do right now. Right now, some of you are in a place where you have more doubts than you've ever had before. The bad thing is, you've seen God move more than you've ever seen before. But now you've got more doubts than you ever have before.
That's your wilderness.
Some people Their wilderness is a place of doubt. Their meantime is a place of fear. Their meantime is a place of double-mindedness. You ever had faith one day and doubt the next? One day you're strong, just calling down fire like Elijah.
Next day you're running from Jezebel. How does Elijah one day call down fire? God answers, fire falls. God consumes the sacrifice. They kill the false prophets.
Man, God is moving. You would think you got that kind of faith to call down fire. The next day You get word, Jezebel said. You got less than twenty-four hours to live. Jezebel This is a bad sister.
Think of the worst neighborhoods you know. Jezebel's from there. Y'all got friends who live in neighborhoods you don't necessarily want to visit them, then why don't y'all come over the way I am? You're not trying to drive your nice car up in there. That's where Jezebel Had that mentality.
Now she's the queen. She's in charge, but she's thug. Jezebel straight thug. Because you know, she puts out a contract.
Now, when you put out a contract on somebody, you don't normally want to tell them. You won't just be walking down the street and get popped. No, no. Not thug, Jezebel. She said, go tell him.
By this time tomorrow He gonna be as dead as my prophets he killed. Let him know. I'm coming for him. That's a bad girl.
Now you would have thought with all that fire calling power Anointing. He said, Oh, please. Girl, bye. Instead, when he got that word, He said, thanks for letting me know. Boom, he took off running.
That's something about humanity. You can have faith one minute and doubt the next. Faith and fear living in the same place. I know God. I ain't sure what he gonna do.
Same place. Your wilderness.
So The meantime can be A Babylon place, you brought it on yourself. The meantime can be an Egypt place. Where you did nothing wrong, but all hell is breaking loose. Your meantime can be a wilderness where I know I'm supposed to believe for bigger, better, greater. But when I go to access faith, I can't find it.
And I'm stifled. in my doubt. We don't walk in unbelief. Unfortunately, sometimes in faith circles, we talk about unbelief versus faith. When you talk about the people of God, we're not people of unbelief.
But we can be plagued with doubt. I'm a believer, but sometimes a believer can fall into. being a doubter. I believe God. I'm not sure what he's gonna do in this situation.
That's your wilderness.
You ever believe God for other people's kids, and when you go to try to get your kids straight, I don't know if He can do anything with this. You helping all your friends, you faith in them through, you giving them scriptures and all that. God gonna do this, God gonna do that, and now you got a family problem. Your marriage, maybe. And you pulling other people through their marriage trouble.
And then they try to pull you, you're like, mm. Doubt. Can plague the people of God.
So what do I do when I'm living in the meantime? Number one. You need to be assured that your deliverance, your freedom, your better, your greater, your verse 11. is coming. It is coming.
God said it. He wasn't lying and he wasn't cracking jokes. When he said, I'm thinking certain thoughts toward you. He meant it. He said I've got plans for you.
He meant it. I've got future and a hope for you. He meant it. So when you're in, you're in the meantime. Be assured.
God said better is coming. Greater is coming. Answer is coming. Breakthrough is coming. Victory is coming.
Deliverance is coming. I don't like where I am now, but God said, You're going to like it when I get you where you're going. I need to tell somebody, Your greater is coming. Your victory is coming. Your answer is coming.
Your breakthrough is coming. God wasn't playing when He said, I know the thoughts I'm thinking towards you. They are thoughts to bless you and not curse you. I'm going to give you peace. I'm not going to leave you hanging.
I'm gonna come through for you. You gotta be assured. Greater is on the way. That's what verse 10 says.
Now, in their case, They had to wait 70 years. I don't know how long you're going to have to wait. Depends on what kind of meantime you're in. If you're in uh Babylon meantime, And God wants to teach you something, sometimes He can't bless you yet. Cause you gotta learn something first.
Y'all remember old-fashioned parents they wanted you to learn something first And it depend on how quickly you learn. As the house quickly you got blessed. God said, I'm telling y'all right now, you're staying in Babylon 70 years. Because he wanted them to get it. In fact, What do you do in the meantime first?
You assure yourself that greater is coming. That's verse 10. But then also... You've got to maximize your meantime with sound decisions. Make sound decisions.
You who are living in the meantime, trying to figure out: well, what am I supposed to do until God comes through? Make sound decisions. Look at verse 5 of Jeremiah 29. Look at verse 5. It says, Build houses and dwell in them.
Plant gardens and eat their fruit. See, somebody else says, I don't receive that. I don't want to plant gardens. In the meantime. I won't go to Jerusalem.
Yeah. But God said, till I bring you out. Maximize where you are. Maximize where you are. It's up to me when I bring you out.
But build houses and dwell in them. Plant gardens and eat the fruit thereof. What kind of decisions are you making? I know you're in a place you don't want to be. Working a job you don't want to work.
Live in the house you don't want to live in. Got people around you you wish would go somewhere. What do you do in the meantime? You make sound decisions. Listen, you got to live by this.
I love the John Maxwell mantra. It's one of the things I live by.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. You don't have to lose. But I don't always win. Y'all willing to be honest enough to say, I don't always win. I've had sometimes I didn't win that one.
But I don't have to lose. I can learn. If I learn what I need to learn I'll never have to come this way again. Thanks so much for being here for today's message, What to Do in the Meantime, featuring Pastor Paul Shepard. You know, Destined for Victory could not exist without the faithful prayers and financial support of listening friends and partners like you.
You've been the lifeblood of this media ministry since its inception, and it's because of you that we can share the gospel of Jesus Christ with people all over the world. We hope you'll consider sending a generous gift to day, and when you do we've got a great message to share with you as our way of saying thanks. It's our brand new booklet, Grown Up Faith. If you long to move towards a greater level of spiritual maturity and a more intimate walk with Jesus, get yourself a copy of this booklet as soon as you can. It's filled with great, practical, biblical advice on how to grow your faith the way God intended.
You'll be challenged to embrace who you are in Christ and shown some key steps to learning how to operate in who He designed you to be. Again, that's Grown Up Faith, yours today by request, for your most generous donation to Destined for Victory. Give by phone by calling 855-339-5500, 855-339-50500, or visit us at pastorpaul dot net to make a safe and secure donation there. You can also mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767. Fremont, California, 94538.
Is marriage in my future? There are.
Some people I know, some of my colleagues in ministry, and I've heard a number of them answer this question by saying, Yes, if you. are open and available to marriage. God has promised that He is going to give you A marriage partner. God sometimes calls people to remain single, but did God promise everyone else they'd one day get married? Answers come your way next time, and our message is marriage my future.
Until then remember. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.
