Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. Hello, and thanks for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory, where we feature the teaching and preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard. Coming up next, a message about the power of praise in the life of a believer. You'll want to stick around to hear this important message. But before we get going on this Thanksgiving Day, I'm pleased to welcome in Alicia Greer, the Executive Director here at Destined for Victory, with a special greeting.
Alicia? Happy Thanksgiving season, everyone. My father, Pastor Paul, would always say that he wanted his teaching legacy to outlive him. He wanted people to still be able to hear this timeless truth on the broadcast, even after he went on to be with the Lord. And even though we didn't know that time would come so soon, I want to say thank you during this Thanksgiving season for all you're doing to continue to support the ministry because you are truly making his legacy live on.
You are allowing that to happen. We can only do that because of your faithful support.
So thank you so much for everything you're doing to help us keep the teaching legacy alive of Destined for Victory Ministries with Pastor Paul Shepard. God bless you. Yes, thank you, Alicia. As I listened to your words, I found myself echoing the same sentiment. Alicia really speaks for all of us at Destined for Victory.
Words can't adequately express just how grateful we are for all you've done, especially during this challenging year. It's a wonderful Partnership, and we're so glad to have you with us. When you financially support us today, we have a great resource reserved for you. It's our latest booklet, Give, Bless, Repeat, and I believe it will encourage you to serve and love others in a way that brings honor and glory to Jesus Christ. In its pages 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. You can give by phone by calling 855-339-5500. 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. The Bible directs us as to how to live a life that brings God glory. And one of the features of that life is to give God the praise and the thanks that He deserves. Did you know that when you praise God, He fills your life with peace? It's true.
No matter your circumstances, showing gratitude to God fills you with peace that surpasses human understanding. That's God's promise to all of us. And on today's Destined for Victory, featuring Pastor Paul Shepard, we'll take an in-depth look at what this promise is all about. Stay with us now or listen on demand from our website, pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net.
Now, let's listen closely to Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message. Have you paid your praise bill? The one hundred and seventh. Psalm Beginning with verse 1. All right, if you have it, say I've got it.
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say this those He redeemed from the hand of the foe. My subject is, have you paid your praise bill? Have you paid your praise bill?
In case you're not aware of it, But I'll bet a bunch of people are aware of it. And I'll know based on your response to my opening sentence: being in debt is no fun. All right, I have some witnesses. Being in consumer debt can be a miserable experience. That state of living where there's always too much month at the end of the money.
That state of living where your income is not. Up to your obligations, where you are having difficulty making ends meet. In fact, sometimes. We are in a stage and in a state where you know they're not going to meet, you're just hoping they can get close enough to see one another. It's no fun to live like that.
It can have a number of negative Consequences. First of all, it can really rob you of your peace of mind. Living with the constant strain and stress of having over-obligated yourself and trying to figure out how you're going to work things out and work them through. Then you can deal with the problem of the strain on your marriage or on your family life. In fact, counseling statistics verify this that one of the two top reasons marriages are breaking up at such alarming rates is because of fights and feuds around money issues.
And so it can disturb the peace not only of your mind, but the peace of your home. Then you can have the consequence of a negative credit worthiness so that when you go to do some things you really need to do later in your life, you are plagued by poor decisions of your past because they look at your record and they see that you have at least a history at some point of having over-obligated yourself and usually that's accompanied by slow payments which show up on your credit record. And the bottom line ends up being that you can't get the best rates and sometimes simply can't get the funding for the things you need to do.
So it can impact your future in terms of credit worth. It can certainly impact your stewardship. The Bible is very clear that we are stewards of that which is God's. Our income is really not ours, it is God's. We are managers of God's money.
And the Bible tells us that we ought to give cheerfully, that we ought to give generously, that a tithe is an excellent starting point for giving, but the bottom line is all of it, not just 10%, all of it belongs to God. And we are managers of His resources. And so you can find yourself in one of those situations where you're struggling because, on the one hand, you truly want to honor God through generous giving, but on the other hand, you're struggling to say, Now, can I really do this in light of all of the people I owe? And so it can send you through changes as it relates to your stewardship.
So, long story short, as I said, being in debt is no fun. But as Bad as being in consumer debt is, Have you ever thought about the fact that it's worse to be in debt to God. And I showed up to tell you. That many of us are in debt to God. And the debt we owe him is a debt of thanksgiving and praise.
And I want to let you know. That God is looking for us to bring our praise bill current.
Some of us are delinquent. on our praise bill. You're behind. On your praise, Bill. Psalm 107, the reason why I chose this particular psalm is because it makes that point in a very clear way.
This psalm opens up by saying, Give thanks to the Lord. This is a directive, not a suggestion. Give thanks. Present to the Lord your thanks. For he is good, his love endures forever.
And then, as the psalmist moves throughout the course of the psalm, he constantly repeats that theme. Verse 8, he says it again, give thanks. Verse 15, he says it again, give thanks. Verse 21, give thanks. Verse 31, give thanks.
It's as though the psalmist is sending out delinquent notices. You've gotten delinquent notices before. I know you have your finances all together now, but you remember. A time when you get those little letters in the mail, sometimes they'll change the color on you. Come on, somebody.
Well, you didn't, you ignored the white paper, so next time you'll see yellow paper coming through. And then they'll start out with nice language. They'll say, this is a friendly reminder. We're sure you just inadvertently overlooked the previous bill.
So we thought we'd send you another one just to remind you that we're still looking for that payment. And so they'll be friendly first time around.
Some of us even know what it was like to get another one. And after that, it wasn't so friendly. After that, the language m was more like, look. Trying to be nice now, get the money on in here. And God is saying to us through the psalmist, I'm sending you some notices that it is time for you to get caught up.
On your praise, Bill. See, we actually owe God thanksgiving and praise. Perhaps you've never thought of it like that, but we owe it. When the Bible says praise the Lord or give thanks to the Lord, you actually owe him that. Psalm 150, verse 6 says, Let everything that hath breathed.
Praise the Lord. That's not a suggestion. God doesn't give suggestions in His Word. Moses didn't come down off of the mountain with ten uh good ideas. The Bible directs us as to how to live a life that brings God glory.
And one of the features of that life is to give God the praise and the thanks that He deserves. So the Psalm says, Psalm 156, let everything that have breath. Praise the Lord. You know what that means? I checked out the Hebrew, dug all into the depths of the meaning.
You know what it means? Here's what it means: if you're breathing. That's about it. That's about it. There's nothing deeper than that if you're breathing.
If you're inhaling and exhaling, if you're, the old folks said, if you're in the land of the living. You owe God thanks. Just by virtue of your existence. It is he that hath made us, Psalm 100 says, and not we ourselves. We are his people, the sheep of his pastor.
So enter into his gates with thanksgiving, enter into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless his name, for the Lord is good. Bible says we owe him praise. Let everything that have breath praise the Lord. You owe him.
If you're walking around, you owe him praise. If an atheist is listening to this message, you owe God praise. He's the one giving you the breath so you can deny he exists. You wouldn't have the chance to say, I don't believe in God unless He gave you the breath. He's giving you the breath so you can deny him.
Say, Lord, thank you for allowing me to deny you. Your oh God, your oh God prays if you're breathing It is a directive of Scripture. 1 Chronicles 16:29 says this: Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name. Ascribe to him the glory due. I love that.
It has that word due in it. You know, we usually see the word due on a bill. And it says, Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name. Glory and praise and thanks are due God's name. Pay the bill now.
In fact, 1 Chronicles 16:29 doesn't let you know that it's net 30. It's not paying when you get around to it. It's due now.
Sometimes you get a bill, and when you look at the due date, it says upon receipt.
Soon as you get the bill, it's already due. You know, some folk, you know, you get net 30 arrangements and they'll send you the notice, and you got 30 days to figure out how you're going to get this done. But the rest of them just say it's upon receipt.
Soon as you get it, you owe it. And I want to let you know: the Bible here says God is owed glory and praise and thanksgiving. It is actually due to his name. Still ahead, the second half of today's Destined for Victory message, featuring the teaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard. As always, you can hear any of our recent messages on demand at pastorpaul.
net. That's pastorpaul. net. Listen and subscribe to the podcast at Spotify or at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. You know, fulfilling the great commission takes all of us working together.
It always has. And God has commissioned pastors and teachers and missionaries to do their part. But He also encourages listening friends and partners like you to do yours, and we're so grateful for what you've done in His name. Your prayers and donations reach people all over the world with the love of Jesus Christ. Let's keep that momentum going and let's do it together.
To make a safe and secure donation online, go to pastorpaul.net or call 855-339-5500. Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord of Lords, and He is worthy of all praise and honor.
Now let's get you back to the rest of today's message. Have you paid your praise bill? Malachi chapter 1, verse 6. I'm going to hit you with more scripture until you get it. God speaking through the prophet Malachi.
And in chapter 1, verse 6, he says, A father is honored by his son, and a master is honored by his servant. Then God says, If I am your father, where is the honor due me? If I am your master, where is the respect? Do me. God is saying, I am the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and I am worthy of your honor and respect and praise.
See, the Bible drives home the point that we owe God thanksgiving and praise. And it says, God is a father. If you'll give an earthly father honor, If you'll give an earthly master honor, how much more the God who blesses you with everything? See, we've got to understand that we owe these things to God. In the body of Christ, we're so accustomed to rejoicing in the fact that Jesus paid our sin debt.
And he did pay our sin debt. I want to affirm that when it comes to your sins, Jesus paid it all. When he came, that's the glory of the gospel message. You and I owed God a sin debt that we could not pay with our lives. Because the Bible says the wages of sin is death.
The only way you pay for your sins is you pay with spiritual death, which is an eternal state of being alienated from God. It begins in life now. When you walk around on this planet alienated from God because of your sin, you have no fellowship with him here. And then after death, the judgment, you will have no fellowship with God throughout all eternity. That's the only way to pay your sin debt.
God knowing that and God loving you the way He does. The Bible says, in the fullness of time, God sent His Son. Jesus Christ is a product of the love of God. He came into this world, God became flesh, wrapped himself up in a human body, was implanted in the womb of a virgin named Mary by the Holy Spirit, lived a sinless life, died a substitutionary death, rose bodily three days later. 40 days after that, stepped on a cloud and headed back to heaven, having paid the price for your sins in mine.
When he got back to heaven, they were awaiting this glorious return. The psalmist said that they said, lift up your heads, O ye gates. Be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the king of glory shall come in. On one side of heaven, somebody said, who is the king of glory? On the other side, somebody said, the Lord, strong and mighty.
He is the king of glory. Let me tell you something. He got that kind of hero's return because heaven knew what he had done for us. That God humiliated Himself by becoming a man so that you and I could have our sin debt paid. Jesus.
Paid your sin debt in its entirety. If you're walking around still in your sins, I want to let you know you have no business still being in your sins when you understand how much God loves you, that He came to die for you so that you wouldn't have to. When you stay in your sins, it is akin to saying, Someone paid a bill you could never ever pay. You were subject to being enslaved the rest of not only time, but all of eternity. And when you walk around in your sins, it's pretty much like saying to God, That's all right.
I heard that you love me and that you sent your son, paid the ultimate price for me. That's all right. I'd rather have that bill to pay myself. I'd rather stay alienated from you. I'd rather spend eternity in torment apart from you.
That's all right, Lord. I heard about your love, but that's okay.
Now, you know as well as I do, if somebody was willing to pay off your credit card. If somebody who loves you was willing to pay off your credit card, no strings attached. You wouldn't turn that down. And so it's nothing but a trick of the devil. When you Believe that stain in your sins Is the better way to live your life?
If I were you, I wouldn't even walk. I'd run to the altar. And say, Lord, thank you for loving me so much. That you have paid the price for my sin. But here's my point.
We're so busy celebrating the fact that Jesus paid our sin debt until we don't pay enough attention to the fact that we still owe a debt. It's no longer a debt of paying for our sins, but we owe a debt of thanksgiving and praise. And I want you by the end of this message to know that you owe God a whole lot of praise, and it's time to start putting some payments on your praise bill. And let God know you love him and you appreciate him for all that he's done.
So he said through Malachi, just like a son honors a father and a servant honors a master, you owe me that same honor and that same reverence.
Now, we don't get the point of some of those kinds of Bible directives because of the culture we live in. You know, in Bible culture, the son honored a father just because he was his father. And the Bible actually teaches that that is God's plan for all of us. It's a timeless principle. It's in the Ten Commandments: honor your father and mother.
It's spoken of in the Old Testament and new. You owe your parents honor.
Now, we live in days where people love their independence and sense of nobody can tell me what to do. But when you get to the Bible, it tells you what to do. It says, honor your father and mother. And it doesn't say honor them if you love them to death, think they did everything exactly right. That's what a lot of folk are these days.
Well, see, I only give honor to respect people who deserve respect. That's our crazy way of thinking. If God treated you like that, if He said, I only love people who deserve my love, where would we be? If God were like us, we'd be amiss. We'd all be in trouble if God were as vindictive, if God were as temperamental.
Come on now. The Bible says when you were his enemy, Christ died for you. If God were like us. And we walk around just deciding what we want to do that he wants and what we d wanna ignore whenever we get good and ready? You having one of those days you just wanna tell everybody off the Bible tells you, you know, speak the truth in love, be nice, be kind.
And you just feel like you ever have one of those flesh parade days? You just want to be on display, you just want to show out, you just want to have your way. I'm sick of these folk, I don't care what the Bible says, I'm getting some folk told today.
Now, if God were like us, you'd know as well as I do. He'd be in heaven and say, Oh, you feel like being fleshly today, huh? All right, try to do that without air for a few seconds. Aren't you glad God is not like us? And he teaches us, because of his great love for us, there are some things that he calls us to do.
One is to respect your parents. It says honor your father and mother. Don't say honor them if you're crazy about them, love everything they've ever done. Honor them because they are your parents. Honor your biological parents because they got you here.
Yeah, you think they're all messed up and they messed over your life and didn't affirm you and didn't love you right and didn't treat you right. And you got your long list of their imperfections. Oh, but when you get through it, all of that, honor them because they got you here. You are so much more wonderful than them. You can show them how life is really supposed to be.
Honor them because they gave you a chance to come and show them up. If you were raised by a step parent or in one of these blended family situations, honor the people who took the time to get you from childhood to adulthood. If they didn't do it the way you wish they had. And truly, some people come out of genuinely abusive situations, and you can't respect what they did, but you can respect their personhood because by God's grace, you are now an adult and you're able to move on and see God's blessings come into your life. And so the Bible calls you to honor them.
Honor them. And we've got to learn that. We've certainly got to teach a generation just the manners the Bible calls us to live with. We got a generation, unless we teach our children manners and what it means to honor and respect, they won't learn it. They're growing up in a world that's teaching them to distrust their parents.
It's amazing the kinds of things that are happening in our society today, where there are agencies and organizations that actually think they gotta protect our children from us.
Now, to be sure, there are some situations, some abuse, where we ought to always stand against that, and there ought to always be sensible, righteous principles and precepts by which children who need to be protected can be. Thanks so much for being here with us for today's Destined for Victory message. Have you paid your praise bill? Always a pleasure to have you with us. 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.
Through Jesus, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise. See again, there's that word sacrifice. The first reason to go to church is not for what you're going to get. The first reason you go to church is for what you're going to give. That's tomorrow in our continuing message, Have You Paid Your Praise Bill?
Until then, we hope you enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving. And remember, He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory. Uh
