Hello, and thanks for spending part of your day here with us on Destined for Victory, where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard. Before we get going, I'm pleased to welcome in Pastor Paul's daughter and the executive director of Destined for Victory, Alicia Greer. Alicia, here we are on the final day of a four-day series of messages called For Christ's Sake, Do Good. It's been a great reminder that anything good we do is for the glory of Jesus. But if you would, Alicia, talk for a moment about how we can discover what doing good should look like in our day-to-day lives.
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. And I think we'll all be encouraged and challenged by this important series.
Thank you, Alicia. 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. 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, it's called Give, Bless, Repeat, and it's our gift to you today for your generous donation to Destined 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.
Um 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 got to 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. A common theme running throughout Scripture is the command to love and serve other people, to sow seeds of generosity as an act of worship.
On today's Destined for Victory, featuring Pastor Paul Shepard, you see what it looks like to create a lifestyle of generosity, not only with your money, but in every area of your life. The message is called For Christ's Sake, Do Good, and it starts right now. Listen, God's gonna start telling you after you hear this message. Boy, you messed up and heard this message. You're in trouble now.
The Holy Spirit is going to tell you about some things.
Some things it's fine to eBay and all of that. But there are some things the Holy Spirit is going to say: don't you dare try to make money on that. I'm going to let you be a blessing. I gave it to you, you give it to somebody else. Find someone in genuine need.
Quit trying to make a dollar off of everything. Oh, I'm not telling you what I think, I'm telling you what he told me.
So I know he's gonna tell you the same thing. Lord did that with me with a car years ago. First, he had us give, Meredith and I blessed some folks with a car. They're about to go to Bible college and very poor, but the Lord was sending them and had told us the need. And this was a prayer partner, Meredith, and what have you, and so told the need.
And I was clear across the country at a meeting. And she called me one day and she said, You know, you know, he's going to Bible college, gave me the circumstance. She said, Do you think the Lord wants us to give him a car? I said, what? I'm not talking about this season now with thousands of people and all of that.
I'm talking about way back. We still believe in God. And she told me, you think the Lord wants us to give a car? I said, well, you know, I'll be home tomorrow. We can talk about it then.
And I was flying home from that meeting. And because I'm a frequent flyer and learned how to use the upgrades and all, I was flying home in first class. And the Lord reminded me. That it was nothing but him who's blessed me. To be where I am.
Sitting up there looking all fancy. And while I'm sitting up there, the Lord just pushed rewind in my mind. And walked me through the seasons that he brought me through, and he reminded me of when I needed a car, and we were believing for a car. And he touched the hearts of some people clear across the country. To bless us with enough money that I added with $300 from a speaking engagement and got the car.
The Lord said that was me. And now I'm telling you. to do for these folks. What I did for you. By the time she was picking me up from the airport, I said, All right, so what do you think we need to do?
I was surrendered. And we took those folk to a dealership. They bought a nice, late model, reliable used car. And I told the man when he said, All right, how is this going to be taken care of? I said, It'll be in their name, but I'm taking care of this.
And it was the first time in my life I saw folk drive off. Yeah. With something I was paying for. I had no frame of reference for that. But I knew it was the Lord.
Since then, he's had us give a car we already had. That was just a training, I think, example. And he had somebody bless us with a car when our kids moved into their teen years. We got an anonymous letter to the House. And somebody said, Pastor, we know that your children now are both at driving age.
And we can imagine that there's a challenge of transportation in your household. People going in different directions. And your ministry has been such a blessing. The Lord told us. to give you enough money to get a car.
And in came a check for enough money to buy. I had sewn a good, reliable, used car, and now, a couple of years later, comes enough money to buy a nice new car. And we got a car. And that was a blessing. And then a few years later, the Lord said, Somebody else needs that car.
I said, What's with you in cars? Hey. What up with that? Why don't you just rain down money for people to just I thought that to myself. And we've sewn a couple of cars into people.
I don't say that to brag, I'm saying that to say the Lord is saying to us, I am the one who provides for you, and you have got to learn to live with things loosely in your hand so that when I lead you, you give them out. Because sometimes your next blessing It's tied up in your present obedience.
Sometimes, what God has for you, and He already has earmarked it for you. And you're like, well, when's the shipment coming? After you release something. Especially something that's near and dear to you. That the Holy Spirit is just tugging on your heart about.
You have major appliances, the Lord's going to tell you about some of them. Find that family in your growth group. Find that family. We got a portion of our website where people can list something and in great condition and make sure all of that. We don't want raggedy stuff on there.
And list something in great condition and just say, hey, if you can use this, get in touch with me. Let's talk. Let me find out what the need is. And see if we can be a blessing to you. Furniture, swapping out furniture.
Don't wait till the bottom's dropping out the couch. Bottoms dropping out the couch, don't get out to anybody but the trash man. I'm telling you, we tried to gift some furniture one time. We didn't know how bad a shape it is. We thought it was still good, we were still sitting on it.
And I didn't know of the shape it was in underneath where you didn't see. And we were about to get another set. And so we called a local charity and said, we got some furniture we'd love to offer. And they said, well, we come out and inspect first. I said, well, excuse me.
But I found out why they do, and it was wise that they did. Because we thought we were giving away a pretty nice furniture. When they got through looking at that, They said, Reverend, we can't take this. I said, what's the problem? And he showed me.
He lifted up a portion of the sofa, and the rest of it stayed right down. I said, I never did that. I don't, because I don't lift it up, I sit on it. He said, time we get through moving this, more of its frame would be compromised and it wouldn't be any good. I said, well, what am I supposed to do with it?
He said, you'll figure it out. He left. But if you have some good furniture that can be a blessing to somebody. Find a way, whether through your church or through some reliable Charity and offer it. In praise to God.
And offer it to do good to help somebody else. Material resources. What do you have That would be a genuine Blessing. to someone else. Do you know that the Bible pattern?
In the early church, Acts chapters 2 and 4, they talk about the fact that the early church was intentional about giving, not only as an act of worship. But giving to ensure that the needs of people were met. Then they would give whatever it took. In fact, the early church would give major gifts because there were so many people's needs who were being taken care of. In those days, churches didn't need to raise millions for buildings to house their ministries.
In those days, it was all house churches and what have you, anyway. And so, they were able to dedicate much more of their resources just to help people who were in crisis. You know, in the early church, many people were being invited out of their families that were steeped in Orthodox Judaism. And so, the church had to take care of themselves. And when you get to Acts chapter 4, it says that people were giving property.
Selling property and bringing the proceeds and saying, use this. Let's make sure everybody has their needs met. And I've pastored now long enough to see that happen in our ministry when we were raising funds to build the worship center I'm speaking in now because we needed a place to house a growing ministry and to house the many 60-plus ministries we operate to reach out to people all around the area. And we needed a place. And we were over there having four services, that little dinky building.
Some of y'all remember where we were. And we desperately needed a place that said, Lord, we don't own any property. How in the world are we going to get this kind of money to be able to get our next place? But we knew God would make a way. And we started our campaign and asked people to pray over and above your tithes.
What does the Lord want you to do to help us build our facility so we can keep on reaching thousands more for Christ? And one of the families came to us and said, Pastor, the Lord put on our hearts, we have a piece of property we've been looking forward to building our dream home on it. But when we were praying, the Lord told us to give him that property.
So that the kingdom work can go on, and that He will bless us in His own way. And so they said, We want to give properties. When we said, you know, our leaders and what have you looked at and said, well, we're not in a position to take the property. It's nothing really. He said, no, no, no.
We already have somebody who wants to buy it. What we want to do is set you up with these people and do the deal so that when it closes, the money goes into the church. And so I said, oh, that's great. That's wonderful. Praise God.
I know the Lord's going to honor you. That's what he's telling you to do. I knew nothing about the property.
So I thought, oh, that's nice. They got a little patch of land. And, you know, maybe we get $50,000 out of it or something. That'd be nice. You know, and what have you.
When the deal closed, one of the elders who was working the deal with them said, Pastor, I just wanted to report to you that the deal is closed and the money is now in the bank. I said, oh, that's great. Were we able to get about 50, 75,000 out of the deal? He said, Pastor, it sold for $800,000. In case you joined us late, you're listening to Destined for Victory, featuring the teaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard.
Stay with us. The second half of today's message is coming right up. One of the things we love to do for friends and listeners like you is pray for you when you're in need.
So, if you have a prayer request, please visit us at pastorpaul.net and use the contact feature to share it with us. Our ministry team is always happy to lift you up in prayer. And of course, when you stop by our website, remember that's where you can listen to the broadcast on demand at your convenience. The website again is pastorpaul.net.
Now, no one can outgive God. When we bless others, He blesses us, and sometimes He does it in unexpected ways.
Now, here's the rest of today's message: For Christ's sake, do good. One couple sitting in church. I didn't know they had it like that. But you know what? It wasn't about anything but their walk with God.
They didn't come in parading and talking about we got money, and if you danced to our music, we'd hook you up. There were no strings attached. This was an act of worship. And they gave it. And I said, as we prayed over that deal and thanked God for that provision that helped us build our worship facility.
I said, Lord, I'm going to ask you to bless those people with some more property so that they can build a home. That'll glorify you. And they came back to me months later. And gave me this wonderful testimony of how they were taking a walk. And saw a house already built because the other one they were going to have to design something and build from the ground.
And if you ever done that, you know what that'll put you through. And they were walking and saw a house, and they said, That is exactly. What we want. Say, wonder if it's available. Long story short, they live in it today.
Listen, you can't beat God-giving. You worship him and do good. To help other people, he's already given you the resources. You got to use them for his glory.
Now, some of us not only have to learn to give our financial resources and our material resources, but let me close by telling you this: we've got to learn to give our time and energy. The fact of the matter is, sometimes what God has given you that'll be a blessing is not material and is not financial. He has given you time and energy. He's given you the ability sometimes to put in sweat equity. And it'll be a blessing to somebody.
There's a family you could be a blessing to. By taking care of their kids, if they're living responsibly and doing some things and could use some help, and there's an evening or two that you could say, let me be a blessing to you. I know you all struggle with finding reliable babysitters. We love children. We would love to share with them.
We love to read them some Bible stories and show them some good, decent videos for a change. You don't say that. And you could bring them into your home or go sit in theirs. and help somebody. And do good.
And show them the love of God in that one way. You don't have to always get something out the deal. And you can be a blessing to people who stand in need with your time and with your energy. 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.
There's a sense of fulfillment in helping somebody. I'm so glad we have many Christian singles who use their time rather than dating these raggedy people, you know, it's not worth your time. I'm so glad we got some. You know, I rag on them, so I want to brag on them, too. I thank God for the ones that are doing it right and saying, until my Boaz or my Ruth comes.
I'm going to give the Lord some extra time. Right now, I've got time. I can give. Because, you know, Paul said when you're married, you care for the things of your spouse. They'll eat up a whole lot of your time.
But while you're single, while you're waiting on your blessing. The Lord has given you the opportunity to be a blessing. And some of them are volunteering in just the way I'm talking about. And using their time and energy, helping some parachurch organization. Many of them come in and help with the ministries around the church, help us do the things.
They help out in enduring truth and help us ship product and get it out to be a blessing to people. And they're saying, I'm just glad to be able to use this time to the glory of God. Listen, it'll make a difference. Who knows while you're serving God? Who knows how He'll hook you up?
Sometimes your hookup is un in unexpected places. While you're serving the Lord, because you know, that's God's M.O. When you look at the Bible, sometimes God doesn't bless you until you are preoccupied with something other than when the blessing is coming. I refer sometimes to the Shunammite woman. You need to understand, that woman was barren there in 2 Kings.
The Bible says her husband was old and she was barren. Which meant it looked like there was no way she was going to have a child. But rather than focus on what she did not have, She said, What can I do with what I have? And Elisha would come through town. Every now and then, he and his servant.
And she said, you know, this man of God comes through town and doesn't have a place to stay. And although I don't have a child, and although my husband is old and not likely to give me a child. I do have resources. The Bible says she was a great woman. King James says she was a great woman.
Other translations make it more plain. And let us know she was a wealthy woman. She was a woman of financial means. When the Bible says a woman was broke off, That means she had money, I'm sorry. It's a very important statement.
It means she did not marry into it, it means she had it first. Her husband married into it. My man on that wedding day, Mr. Shunamite. There's a happy brother.
He's standing there on that wedding day. She's coming down. He's bouncing on the ball of his foot. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.
Oh, thank you, Jesus. And when she made up in her mind she was going to take care. of this servant of the Lord. She consulted with her husband. She was so wise.
She knew if I'm going to do something like this, I need to make sure there's unity in my house. I always say to couples: you got to learn to walk in unity. Just because you had the money doesn't mean you can just do anything you want. This is we. You don't get funky.
It's my money. You know, she didn't act like that. He comes in the house, baby. What's all this? What are these contractors?
What's this about? Don't worry about what it's about, it's my money. You just go on about your business. She didn't do like that. She didn't do it like that and none of you wives ever do anything like that.
But people I know. She made sure her husband was comfortable. And after he was comfortable with the prophet, then she floated her idea out there.
Now she knew she was building that room. But she wanted to make her husband think he had something to do with it. Right there, Sunday came.
So she said, Baby, what do you think, you know, if we build an extension on the house so that this prophet can have his own room when he comes to town? I always imagine, you know, my imagination kicks in. I always imagine her because they were going to build an extension on the house by building a room on the roof. That was the way they did it in that culture. And so I imagine her having her husband up on the roof.
So, what do you think? What corner do you think we should put the window in? She knew where she wanted that window. But she won't make him think he's part of it.
Now, where do you think? He's standing up there. Oh, well, you know, the afternoon sun comes in right through there, so I. If we put the window right here, then he'd get the sun in the afternoon, and he'd get it all the way to the evening, see, and he don't have to turn the lamp on so early. And I can just imagine her saying, Oh, baby, that is a good idea.
You are so smart. I marry such a smart man. That's the way to work your house. Got to keep this thing together. Quit fussing and fighting over nonsense.
Make the man feel good. Don't worry about his ego. He always got think he done. Let him think it. You gotta understand, this dates all the way back to Adam and Eve.
When the Lord created Eve. Adam was still asleep. Eve was woke. Looking at that, when the Lord brought him out of that divine anesthesia. He came to and he saw the woman God had made for him.
She was already up. She already knew where they were going to live, everything. Pooh.
So, you sisters, you're ahead of your man. We know that. In most cases, he knows that. And if he doesn't know that, oh well. You're ahead of him.
The trick is, don't make him think that all the time. Just make him believe he's walking with you. You're not ahead of him. And so I just see her working him. Oh baby, that's a good idea.
And then she brought him in, and she got what she wanted. Her husband could be out bragging like he built an extension on the house. He didn't care. Yeah, he's probably down by the city gate. Yeah, wife and I, we're building an extension on the house.
But here's my point. When The prophet began to enjoy this blessing. God blindsided her with a blessing. Because all she wanted to do was be a blessing. That's where you and I are.
God tells us do good. Do good with no ulterior motive. Do good cause it glorifies God. And it blesses somebody else. But every now and then, I want to close by telling you: if you'll do God, God will see.
Your act of worship and service. And he'll reward you in an unexpected way. In the kingdom of God, the path to blessing is to be a blessing. The way to be filled with joy is to be a joy to others. Honor God with your money, your talent, and your time, and you'll never lack for anything.
In fact, God promises He'll bless your life in ways you'd never thought possible. To find out more about Destined for Victory's mission and purpose, or about the special gift reserved for you when you give generously today, please come see us at pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net. Success is doing the will of God. Success is doing the will of God.
is knowing the will of God and doing it. And so, what you want to find out in life is: Lord, what would you have me to do? And that's next time in our message, Praise Your Way Through. Until then, remember. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.
In Christ, you are destined for victory.
