They give you ten thousand, give him a thousand. If he give you $100,000, give him $10,000. If he gives you a million, give him a hundred thousand. Don't have to get deep about it. That's all of it is his.
Just move the decimal. Quit praying. Move the decimal. And we worship God first through giving. You may be thinking, oh no, not another message about tithing, but stick around because today's message will change the way you think about the way you give.
Hello, and thanks for stopping by for today's Destin for Victory, where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard. The Bible tells us that God is a God of order, and when it comes to the way we live our lives, the order should be God first, then our family, then our church family, then everyone else. Whether it's our time, our tithes, our talents, we're created and called to give those things to God first. Today's message is straight ahead, but remember, pay us a visit at pastorpaul.net, where you can hear any recent Destined for Victory message on demand, including today's. That's pastorpaul.net.
Now, let's listen closely to Pastor Paul's message. For Christ's sake, do good. God is a God. of the law of reciprocity. He says, you will reap what you sow.
And in the earlier message, we made the point. that God is serious about promising A harvest of eternal life to those who sow to please the Spirit. while at the same time warning those Whoa. Live to please their sinful nature. He says, from that nature, they will reap.
Destruction. And we talked about what that means and what that looks like in the previous message. And then we moved on to begin to see. That's what matters to God Is that we glorify him by doing good? He said, I want you to not get weary in doing good.
Because at the proper time, you're gonna reap if you don't give up. And then he locks in on verse 10, and that's where we are now. He says, As the Lord gives you opportunity, We are to do good to all people, especially those who are of the family of believers. And so, in the previous message, we've been talking about the importance of living in God's order. What is God's order?
That we put Him first, worship God first. The great commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Put God first, and then He says, Take care of family. That's the biblical order from Genesis to Revelation. God says, I'm going to bless you to be a blessing to many other people, but do not neglect those who I have given you the priority of taking care of in your own immediate family.
So, living according to Bible order is worship God first, take care of family, and then God will definitely give you the opportunity to bless others. And you see it again here in this text: He talks about sowing to please the Spirit. The first order of business is to live your life to please God. Do all you do to the glory of God. Paul said in Colossians chapter 3, in all that you say and in all that you do, do it to the glory of God.
And then we are told, in sowing to please the Spirit, we are to do good to all people, especially those of the family of believers. The biblical pattern is God first, family second, and then God will bless you to take care of others.
So I am making the point that if you want to be a blessing to others and follow Paul's instruction here to do good to all people, first of all, make sure you're handling your family business right. Make sure you're taking care of those God's giving you an immediate responsibility for. Make sure you're worshiping God and taking care of family.
So, when it comes to finances, We ought to worship God first. How do we do that? We do it with our tithing, we do it with our offerings. I'm very clear in my understanding of the Bible, and I want to share it with you: that tithing is not so much a legalistic obligation as a wonderful opportunity to express, God, you are first, you are the source of everything good, and I worship you out of that which is already yours. Don't get spooky about your giving as an act of worship.
You don't have to say, well, I pray and I ask God what I'm supposed to give. You don't have to get deep about that. There's a biblical pattern from Genesis right through the scripture of generous sacrificial giving. The best way to start that practice is with the practice of tithing. It predates the law.
Don't listen to folk who say, well, that's under the law. We're not under the law. Jacob wasn't under the law way back in Genesis. There was no law of Moses. Moses wasn't on the planet yet.
And Jacob said, Lord, if you keep on blessing me, I'll give you a tenth of everything you give to me. And so don't get deep about it. Just move the decimal. That's all you do. You want to worship God with your income, move the decimal.
I said in the last message: we were taught, I'm glad to be a little Sunday school child. I was taught as a child just to move the decimal. When I was a little boy, my allowance was a dollar, and my mother gave it to us in coins. Three quarters, two dimes and a nickel. And she taught us that one of those dimes belongs to God.
Take that to Sunday school and give that to the Lord. I remember as a child thinking that God Himself was going to come down and get the offering. I did as a little child because the saints taught us that's the Lord's money. We're giving that to the Lord. And I thought there was a room where they went in to count the money and deposit it.
This is no lie. I remember as a kid, one day it had glass you couldn't see through. And I was trying to find a little place where I could see. I wanted to watch God come down. And get the offer and say, Thank you very much.
Yeah, thank you. But listen, it's true. It's giving to the Lord. Move the decimal. Don't get spooky about it.
I said in the last message: the Lord gives you a dollar, give him a dime. If he gives you 100, give him 10. If he gives you 1,000, give him 100. The amen is going to start dropping off. If he gives you 10,000.
To give you 10,000, give him 1,000. If he gives you $100,000, give him $10,000. If he gives you a million, give him a hundred thousand. If he gives you 10 million, give him a million. Don't have to get deep about it.
All of it is his. Just move the decimal. Quit praying. Move the decimal. And we worship God first through giving.
With our money, then you take care of your family. Family, take care of your family. Don't go helping the world, and your family isn't all jacked up. You can't run out. I found a family in need, so I gave them the last money we had, baby.
And right while you're talking, the lights get cut off. No, no, that doesn't honor God. He said, take care of those people in your immediate household.
So we quoted the scripture right from the Bible. The Bible says, if you do not take care of your family, provide for your relatives, especially your immediate family, you have denied the faith and you are worse than an unbeliever. 1 Timothy 5:8. Write in the Bible. If you don't like it, argue with the book.
Got to take care of your business. It's God's plan.
Now after you've worshipped through your giving of tithes and offerings. And after you've ensured that your family's needs are met, Then the Bible says God is going to give you opportunity to do good. Two other people. He's going to bless you with that opportunity.
Now, let me say a couple of things about that as we continue unpacking. What does this doing good look like in practical terms? You're going to give so that the needs of other people are met. If you go to a healthy church and thank God this is one, when you tithe, you're already giving to some extent to help people in need because we practice that as a ministry. Every good ministry should not just be ingrown, but outward-oriented as well, and meet the needs of people.
And our budget ensures that we constantly are reaching out to meet the needs of people.
Some of them will never worship in this place, but we are taking the love of God to where they are and we give resources to let them know there's a group of people who care about you. And so that's just right when you give to places that are taking care of the needs of people. After you have given your tithes and offerings and making sure your family is taken care of, God will enable you to bless and help other people. He says, as you have opportunity, God's going to give you lots of opportunities as you live your life. There'll be opportunities to help somebody in need.
Now what you have to do is learn to be discerning as to who really needs help.
Sometimes people are gullible and they help folks who really aren't looking for a hand up. There are some people around who are just looking for a hand out. and they do not want to make the changes in their life. That God intends for them to make. You got to understand, the Bible does not teach us to be gullible.
Just because you're kind and have a big heart, you're not supposed to be gullible. In fact, the Apostle Paul Said in 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 6, In the name of the Lord Jesus, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you receive from us. You know what that means? Paul said, I told you when I was there, and I want to remind you now that you shouldn't feel obligated to take care of lazy people. Write in your Bible.
Lazy people, people who could do better and choose not to. He's not talking about people who are hit by hard times, people who are unemployed but have a desire to be gainfully employed. He's not talking about them. If you are seeking, if you are searching, if you are saying, Lord, open a door to use my physical and mental resources so that I can work gainfully, he's not talking about you. Don't get under false condemnation.
Don't go away, we have more of today's Destined for Victory message coming up next. But 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. And 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. That's 855-339-5500.
Well, believe it or not, there's a wrong way to give. You'll hear all about it now in the rest of today's Destined for Victory message: For Christ's sake, do good. He's talking about folk who could work but would rather lay up and let somebody else take care of them. He talking about grown kids who should. Have a job.
And could have a job, there are opportunities, but they refuse to take advantage of them because mama and daddy will just let them lay up on them. It's gonna get thin, but I'm gonna keep preaching. Your grown kids live with you? That's wonderful. I'm so glad my parents gave me the privilege of living after college in their home.
It was cheap rent, it was a good deal. But I had to carry my load, had to share the weight, had to cut the grass. And my father liked big lawns. Had to cut the grass, and I got tired of cutting the grass.
So when I got a job, Pop said, Look, if you don't want to cut it anymore, son, you're grown now. You go and hire yourself a gardener. That was the option. You know, when I was a teen, he made me cut it just for principle. He ain't gonna have nothing big laying up in my house, won't cut the grass.
You go on out there and cut it. But later on, after I had a job, he said, No, no, that's all right, son. You're tired of doing that? Go on and hire a gardener. It was my job.
And I did too. That was in my little single budget before I got married. That was one of my line items. Gardener, he came through there. I threw him his money, and I went on back in the house.
My father had big lawns. He loved it. He said, he grew up in poverty and he always wanted houses with sprawling lawns. I said, my Lord, help this man. But it's my responsibility because they won't go and have you laying up in there not carrying your weight.
If you allow your children to live with you, grown children, if they're going to be a hand, that's a great blessing to them and to you. But don't let them lay up in there and watch TV all day. Could be doing something, just choose to not do it. You are enabling the wrong lifestyle. And God is not pleased.
Paul said, I gave you this from the word of God. He said, keep away from idle folk. He said, don't even be named because that might jump on you. Folk who won't Could do better, but won't. Not talking about people who are trying, doing the best they can.
Those are the folk we have to stand with. Those are the folk we have to support. Those are the people we have to help. The less fortunate are part of what God has obligated us to do. But he's talking about folk.
who are idle by choice. And he said, and also. I told you to stay away from folk who are not living according to the way we told you. What's he mean there? Not only people who are idle, but people who are living wrong, who have wrong priorities, are making wrong choices, and they know to do better, but choose to not do better.
He said, you should not be with them. You should not obligate yourself to support people who need to make changes. We got to understand that love has to be tough sometimes. I said love has to be tough sometimes. Agappi is not sloppy.
Agape is not you let people walk all over you, you let people take advantage of your kindness. You already raised your children.
Now you're raising your children's children. If they need you, genuinely need you, it's a wonderful blessing that God's given you strength and the ability to help them. But some of y'all are just enabling people who are living outside of God's will. And they're out somewhere living crazy, and you're watching their kids for free. And it doesn't please God.
I said it doesn't please God. They're not living the way you know you taught them how to live, not making responsible decisions, and know that they have built-in babysitting with you, and he out somewhere at the club making it rain. Yeah. If you don't know what I said, ask the young people. Ask the young folk, they hook you up.
It doesn't please God. Doesn't please God. In other words, you want to see all of your resources, your financial resources, belong to God. You don't want to invest them where He's not getting a return of someone who is listening to your sound counsel and trying to get their lives in order. And so we have to be wise, even out in the street.
You run across somebody, and there is a genuine need, God will bless you to be able to meet that need. But you have to be discerning. You don't want to support a wrong habit. You got to be discerning. Every now and then, somebody will come and ask me for something, and I look at them.
You know, I've been at this a long time. I've been hit up a long time. I know folk who have games and schemes and what have you, and I can just about smell a scheme. And every now and then I see somebody, and they got their little story as well teller and got it just right. But I can see through it.
And you're trying to tell me this is for food, but I can see that I would be enabling a habit that is not helping you. What I need to do is talk to you about there's a program you need to be involved in. Here, let me give you some information I have as a pastor. There's some things our church points people to to help them get off. What is it you're on?
Because you got to help folks. I'm not going to help you by enabling a habit that you need to ask God to help you get free from. And so we have to be responsible for that. Every now and says, no, no, this is for food. There's one brother told me that recently, no, this is for food, man.
I know what you think, but no, this is for food. I'm hungry. I said, all right, well come on, there's a restaurant right here. Let me walk in here with you. and order something.
I'll take care of it. They start him.
Well, I'm ready to do good. You said you need food. And uh hey, if you need food, Let's go. Got you covered. Hungry folk don't hem and haul.
Hungry people go in there and say, Thank you very much, brother. Give me a number four.
So you have to learn the word is responsible. In fact, Paul went on to say in 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 10: Look at this. He says, For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: if a man will not work, he shall not eat. Write in your Bible. It's not a lack of love, it's just calling people to real responsibility.
You don't enable poor behavior. And so we must learn. God will give us the opportunities. But we must be discerning in the process. Not only are we to bless people with our financial resources, we can do good with our material.
Resources. After providing for your family, you've worshiped God through your giving of tithes and offerings, you've provided for your family. After that, look at your material resources. How can we live up to Galatians 6:10? One of the ways we can do it is look at what God has given us.
Do you know some of us have more than we think we have? All you gotta do is look in those closets. Look in that garage. Look in places where you have long since put things away. And you have somebody else's blessing.
In your house. And it's not being used. Or you're about to upgrade. There's a newer model of something you're about to upgrade, and God will bless you. To use what you have to bless somebody else.
Before you bring in your upgrade. And it'll be a blessing. There are a lot of clothes your kids have grown out of. That are in good shape. I'm not talking about the raggedy ones.
See, one of the things we have to learn to do is: this is all of this is sowing to please the Spirit, he said a few verses earlier. And if I want to please God, I don't give people my junk. Oh, I got to help you now because we got a bunch of religious folk. We got a bunch of folk in churches. Every church I've ever been in except this one.
Puncher folk, they love nothing more to bring their raggedy stuff up to church. Can y'all use this? I'm cleaning out my house. And I look at it. It's a home in the world in good conscience.
Could you offer that? As an act of worship to God. By doing good for others. That doesn't look like worship. That looks like junk.
And I've been the one pastor, I know a lot of pastors, I've told pastors before, I've heard them say, well, you know, I don't turn the people down. I see them bring that junk up and I just try to be gracious. I don't. I don't. I have told people to their face: no, we will not receive that.
You mean to tell me you won't read my lips? You want to offer to something? The principle is: David had someone say to him when he was the king, looking to make amends for his sin, and he went to get some resources to offer to the Lord. He went to the man who said, I want to give it to you. David, you're the king.
I would love to bless you with this. David said, I will not offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing. That's a principle. Don't give God and other people your junk. As if you're pleasing God, it's not pleasing.
Give God your first fruits, your best fruits. Then watch as He pours out His blessing upon you to the point that it is overflowing.
Now, I'm pleased to welcome in Pastor Paul's daughter and the executive director of Destined for Victory, Alicia Greer. Alicia, welcome. These messages are a great reminder that anything good we do is for the glory of Jesus. But if you would, talk for a moment about how we can discover what doing good should look like in our day. I love that in this series, there's such a practical breakdown of what it means to do good.
We know that the Bible says that we should let our light shine so that men can see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. But you know, what are those good works?
Sometimes we have to take it back to the basics and break down what is it that the Lord expects of us? Because we can have our own definition of good, but sometimes when we compare it to scripture line for line, we can see, oh, there are areas where I need to grow here in order to really express the goodness of the Spirit of God. And so in this series, Pastor Paul makes it very practical what goodness looks like both in our homes, because we have to start there and out in the world. World, and I think we'll all be encouraged and challenged by this important series. Yes, that's really what our Christian lives come down to, doing good to others in a way that brings glory and honor to Jesus Christ.
Thank you, Alicia. Speaking of doing good, the Word of God tells us that giving good gifts is more than generosity or kindness. It's a lifestyle that honors God. In our latest booklet, Give, Bless, Repeat, you'll be challenged to make doing good a regular part of your life. And you'll discover how to give wisely, how to bless others without enabling them.
Again, that's give, bless, repeat, and it's our gift to you today for your generous donation to Destined for Victory. Please 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. God has given you that time. It is His. He gives us all 168 hours a week.
Everybody has the same amount per week.
Some of that is designed to do good. It's not just to make a living, you gotta make a life. A life means I'm pleasing God and I'm blessing other people. A life means I'm doing something to help somebody. That's next time in our continuing message.
For Christ's sake, do good. Until then remember. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.
