God can be as silent as anybody you know. He doesn't give you all the information. You gotta learn to walk by faith. And not by sight. But if you need a breakthrough because the enemy is coming against you, one of the ways you get a spiritual breakthrough in spiritual warfare is you praise.
If God gave you all the answers in advance, you wouldn't need faith. Hello and welcome for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory, where we feature the preaching and teaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard.
Well, God may have given you a promise. What he won't tell you is everything you may have to go through between the day he made that promise and the day it comes to fruition. Life may get hard. Things may go sideways. Praise God anyway, because as you'll see today, praise is a prelude to victory.
Now remember, you're always invited to visit our website, pastorpaul.net, where you can listen to any recent message on demand, including today's. That's pastorpaul.net. You may also want to subscribe to the podcast at Spotify or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.
Now, let's listen closely to Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message: Discovering the Power of Praise. God can be as silent as anybody you know. He doesn't give you all the information. You gotta learn to walk by faith. And not by sight.
But if you need a breakthrough because the enemy is coming against you, whether it was like Job or anybody else, when he's coming against you, one of the ways you get a spiritual breakthrough in spiritual warfare is you praise. You don't believe me? Look at Joshua 6. Jericho was securely shut up because the children of Israel, none went out, none came in. The Lord said to Joshua, See, I have given Jericho into your hand, its king and its mighty men of valor.
Very interesting. God said, See, I've given you the city. And when Joshua looked, all he saw was a city with a big wall. We talking about C, I've given you. I don't see anything.
But that's the way God wants you to learn. When God says see it, you gotta see it by faith. You gotta see it in your mind. You gotta see it in your spirit. You don't have to see it with your eyes.
He said, See, I've given you Jericho, Joshua, and I've given you its king and its fighting men. And then he gives him the instruction: you shall march around the city, all the men of war. Go around the city once. Do this six days. Wait.
Pardon me, Lord. All the army, all the fighting men. And your instruction is walk around the city once. Tomorrow, walk around the city. Third day, walk around the city.
Fourth day, walk around the city. Fifth day, walk around the city. Sixth day, walk around the city. What sense does that make? God doesn't have to make sense.
You got to learn to do what he tells you to do, even when it doesn't make sense to you. Look at the rest of the instruction.
Now on the seventh day Seven priests bearing seven trumpets of horns on the seventh day will march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets, and it shall come to pass when they make a long blast. With the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout. We used to shouting after we see something. Here's this instruction: go around seven times on that seventh day, and when you do that, have all the people shout. And you gotta learn to shout.
Just because he said shout. Then the wall of the city shall fall down flat. See, we used to wallfall out. Yeah. God said, Nope.
You shout. Wall fall. Do your part and then I'll do my part. And when it happened, everybody saw that wall come down, and they ran in, and you know the story. God gave them a tremendous victory.
And I need you to know that that's the God we serve. He is a God who makes sure that you have victory in your spiritual warfare because you've learned how to praise your way into victory in spiritual warfare. When the enemy is working one side of you, walking up one side of you and down the other, when he's working your last nerve, when he's just like he was with Job thinking, okay, I got him now. Imagine how the enemy felt when, on the worst day of his life, Job is still praising God. That's what you need to do.
You want to give the devil a black eye when he's throwing everything at you and the kitchen sink? I dare you to praise God.
Now, that's a good story, but let me give you one that's gooder than that. And yes, I'm educated. I realize that's not a word. But it fits the message. 2 Chronicles chapter 20.
Some of y'all already know where I am. 2 Chronicles chapter 20.
It happened that the people of Moab and the people of Ammon and other peoples beside the Ammonites came to battle against Jehoshaphat. You know, your enemies sometimes don't even like each other, but they will get together to come against you. You ever seen folk who don't like each other? They band together because they all don't like you. And they don't like you more than they hate each other, so they'll have a truce temporarily so they can all come against you.
Now normally under normal circumstances that's overwhelming. Bishop friend of mine said, I was at the movies one time with my wife, and there were some clowns sitting behind us, and they just carrying on and acting simple and talking all loud and acting crazy. He said, And my wife got up and turned around and said, Y'all need to shut up. And he said. I He said, I was hoping.
Everything was going to be okay. He said, because she had the faith that if they didn't do what she said, her husband was going to step in. He said, but the fact is, I looked around, and it was too many of them for me to do something. He said, so I'm sitting there saying, Lord, please let them men shut up.
So I don't have to step in. I can handle one of them. One-on-one, I think I'll go for that. But one on four, one on five. Uh-uh, that's not gonna happen.
That's in the movies, which we're looking at on the screen. That's not in real life. Let me tell you something.
Sometimes your enemies get together. That's what they did against Israel, against Jehoshaphat. Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria. Down to verse 3. And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord.
I love that. He feared, but he set himself to seek the Lord, proclaimed the fast throughout Judah.
So Judah gathered together and asked help from the Lord. And from the cities of Judah, they came to seek the Lord. That's what you got to learn to do: seek the Lord, even when you're scared. See, a lot of us are so busy beating people up because they are scared. You can be scared, just take your fear to the Lord.
And then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah in the house of the Lord before the new court, and he began praying. I won't read you through the prayer. When you get a chance, read it. He talked to God thoroughly about this situation. That's what you got to learn to do.
You got to pray stuff off of you. You got to talk about everything that's on your mind and your heart and get it up off of you. And he prayed and prayed and prayed. Skip down to verse 14. Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon a young man who was a son of Zachariah in the midst of the assembly.
And he said, Listen, all of you from Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and listen to me, King Jehoshaphat. Thus says the Lord to you. Do not be afraid or dismayed because of this great multitude.
Somebody needs to think about that. God saying that to you right now. The stuff that's coming against you, don't be afraid or dismayed because of what's coming against you. And why is that? Because the battle.
Is not. Oh, come on, somebody. The battle is not yours. I need somebody to know the battle is not yours. I know.
the enemy's coming against you but When they come against you, they gotta deal with your father. Thus says the Lord to you: Do not be afraid, and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours, but God's. That's Second Chronicles 20:15, and this is Destined for Victory featuring Pastor Paul Shepherd. And don't go away, the second half of today's message is coming right up. As you may know, Pastor Paul always wanted the ministry of Destiny for Victory to continue long after the Lord called him home, but to fulfil that vision it takes all of us working together.
Your prayers and generous giving reaches 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. We should always be ready for battle, perpetually dressing ourselves in the armor of God. But the battle itself and the victory belong to the Lord.
Now, let's get you back to the rest of today's Destined for Victory message: discovering the power of praise. Battle. It's not you. Yours. It belongs to God.
It's God's fight. We have a daddy who knows how to fight. In such a way you never have to worry. And this battle doesn't belong to you. And so look at the instruction.
Tomorrow, go down against them. What you talking about, go down there. You heard you just heard how many of them there is. Uh-uh, God said, go ahead on down there. He said, but you're not going to need to fight.
Oh, I love that. When you get there, you're going to find out you don't have to fight. In this battle, there might be some battles where God lets you fight because He wants to teach your hands the war. He said, but in this case, you won't have to fight. Position yourself, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem.
Do not fear or be dismayed. Tomorrow, go out against them, for the Lord is with you. When Jehoshaphat got that word, some faith rose up in him. He said, All right, that's what we're gonna do. And you know the story.
They went on out there and did what the Lord said. And when they got to where the fight should be, They found the enemy was already dead. God called them to come against each other. They all died. Not a one of them was left standing.
Because the Lord had fought the battle for them. Praise is a prelude to victory.
Somebody here is in spiritual warfare, the enemy is trying his best to take you out. But I dare you to obey God and give him praise. You're gonna see him bring you through. Quickly, number nine, praise is a prelude to deliverance. Not only to victory in spiritual warfare, sometimes you need a breakthrough.
You are bound. We just sang about it. I said, Oh Lord, you in this service. Listen to this song. The God of the breakthrough.
Listen, God is one who will respond to your praise and give you a breakthrough. Don't believe me ask Paul and Silas. You know what happened to them. You're a reader of the Bible in Acts 16. You know that those men of God went to town and there they were telling the works of the Lord and what have you, and they got a girl delivered who was demonized, and for all their trouble, they got thrown in jail.
Sometimes you do all the right things and get seemingly all the wrong results. But you've got to know when you're doing God's will, He's always got your back. And so there they are in jail. Verse 22 tells you, the multitude rose up against them and sent them to the magistrates who tore off their clothes, commanded them to be beaten with rods. Many stripes were laid on them and all that.
And then after that, they were put in prison. Watch this, and fasten their feet in the stocks.
So they are bound, physically bound. Oh, but at midnight, verse 25. At midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. You know why you got to go through your trials right? Because somebody's looking at you.
Somebody's looking at you. See, don't ever believe you're not a role model. People are looking at you. And what you do or don't do matters. And the prisoners were listening to them.
Why? Because they're praising and they're singing and they're praying to the Lord. And suddenly, verse 26, suddenly, somebody here needs to know you do the praising worship part, and one of these old times, you're going to have a suddenly. Oh, I don't know about you. I'm believing for a suddenly in my life.
I got about two, three areas where I really could use a suddenly.
Next thing I know, bam, here's what God did. Bam, God changed things around. And suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains fell off and they were loosed. I came to tell somebody, you want your chains off?
Give God praise and worship and bless his holy name. And suddenly he's going to come through for you. One more thing, and I'm going to let you go. Number 10: God is to be praised for who He is.
Now, when we talk about who he is, you're talking about the nature of God. See, God does what he does because he is who he is. One of the things I like about Hebrew is the Hebrew language gives you some specific elements of who God is. In the New Testament, we're serving the same God. Please understand, Old Testament and New Testament don't have different gods.
There is one God, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. But Hebrew gives us a better picture because it gives us aspects of His character.
So when you see some texts in the Old Testament, the Hebrew would be referring to him as El Shaddai. That means the God who is almighty.
Sometimes a text is referring to him as El Elyan. That means he's the most high God. He's higher than every other so-called God. Anything else that would seem to be powerful, God is higher than that.
Sometimes they're referring to Adonai, that's the Lord of all.
Sometimes you see Jehovah, that's the eternal one. In the Old Testament, they couldn't even pronounce his name. But Jehovah means he's the eternal one. They didn't get to speak his name. It was not lawful for them to even try to articulate his name because he was the eternal God.
He is the not human. He is the not like you. You know, I don't like it when people talk about the man upstairs. Just personally, I don't like that. I know y'all don't mean any harm, but listen, he's not a man upstairs.
Let me just help you real quick. He was a man, Jesus Christ, who came down to become sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. And so He was the God-man here on earth, but He now has ascended back to the right hand of the Father, and there is no man upstairs that you're serving. And so you need to know he is Jehovah. And then some texts tell you he's Jehovah Jireh, which means the God I provided.
You remember when Abraham had to take Isaac up on the mountain, and at first he thought he was going to have to kill his son as a sacrifice. When he raised his knife to obey God, the Lord spoke out of heaven and said, No, don't do that. I just wanted to test your obedience. I'm not going to have you kill your son, but there is a sacrifice. Look over there in the bushes, and you'll see that God had provided a ram.
And that's the text where it says, Because I am Jehovah Jireh. I'm the God who provides exactly what you need. I came to tell somebody, some of y'all need a ram in your life, and God is a God who is able to supply exactly what you need. Not only is he Jehovah Jiro, but he's Jehovah Rapha. That means the Lord our healer.
I don't care what sickness or disease it is. You have every right to say, Lord, thank you for what the medical physicians are doing. But you are the God who is the great physician. You're my healer.
So, whether you use their surgery or whether you do it apart from what they do, beyond what they do, I believe in you to be my healer. He is also in the Old Testament Jehovah Nisi, God, our banner. What does that mean? That means when you had an army, you had somebody who was the standard-bearer. They went ahead of the army and they bore the standard, and the standard told you how bad this army was.
And Jehovah said, I am your banner. Oh, I love that. I don't need a physical banner. God Himself is my banner. When I go into war, God goes ahead of me, and He is my banner of victory.
Sometimes he's referred to as Jehovah Shalom in the Old Testament. That means he is a God who is your peace. God will give you a peace that doesn't even make sense. I wonder if anybody has experienced that. God will give you a peace where you stop and look at yourself, say, I ought to be crazy right about now.
I should have lost my mind by now. But here I am with a perfect peace in my heart. And in my mind, I'm not worried when I ought to be crazy. That's cause he's Jehovah Shalom. He's Jehovah Machedesh.
That means he's your sanctifying God. God will clean up areas of your life that need cleansing, that need you to become what God wants you to be. And he himself is your sanctifying God. He is Jehovah Raha. That's God, our shepherd.
He is Jehovah's Sitkanu. That's God, our righteousness. He is Jehovah Shamma. That means he's there. When you feel all alone, don't let the devil make you believe it.
He is Jehovah Shamma. He is with me. Right in my trouble, he's there. When no human around me, he is there.
Now, let me help you understand. I need to wrap this up. Let me tell you that if you can't remember these Hebrew names, you don't have to. All you need to remember is one name: the name of Jesus. You know why?
Because Colossians says that in him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
So if you can't remember Shama and Shalom and Machedesh and Sitkanu and all of that, if you can't remember those, you don't have to remember them. Just say, Jesus. I need Jesus I want you to come here. For me. Jesus, I'm in trouble.
And I need About me. Out and he We'll be right back. Yeah. Glory to God. No matter what may be going on around you, you can have the peace of God within you.
Learn to praise God in all things, and a peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Thanks so much for being here with us for today's Destined for Victory message, Discovering the Power of Praise. Always glad to have you with us.
Now I'm pleased to welcome in Pastor Paul's daughter and the Executive Director of Destined for Victory, Alicia Greer. Alicia, welcome. I know in many ways this has been a challenging year for both you personally and for your family, and the Ministry of Destined for Victory, for that matter. But also know from the many times I've had with your father that he definitely wanted to continue on. What would you like to say to our listening friends and financial partners before we close today?
Thank you so much to all of our partners and donors for everything that you are doing to keep this ministry going with your giving and your financial support. This year has been challenging, not only emotionally, but even financially. But we are committed to keeping Pastor Paul's teaching legacy alive on the air as well as on our digital platforms. That's only possible because of the generous giving of our listeners.
So we are inviting you to continue partnering with us. And so we invite you to send your best gift to Destined for Victory to keep Pastor Paul's teaching legacy alive so that we can continue gleaning from the timeless truths from the word that he taught us so faithfully during his life. Thank you, Alicia, and when you do that today, friends, we have a very special gift reserved as our way of saying thanks, introducing our brand new book, Becoming an Excellent Steward. During the final year of his life, just before being called home to be with the Lord, Pastor Paul preached an excellent series on stewardship. And now we've put these messages together in hardcover form, and we'd love for you to have your very own copy of this book.
That's becoming an excellent steward. Yours today is our thank you for your best gift of $25 or more. And your gift will help us fulfill the vision Pastor Paul had for the future of 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. In order to become true followers of Christ, we must value time. And we must learn to recognize, appreciate, and maximize. Seasons that God takes us through.
That's tomorrow in our message, There's a Reason for Every Season. Until then, though, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.
