It's a time to be silent and then there is a time to speak.
Some of you got to find your voice. You're in a season now where the Lord is leading you to find your voice.
Some of you have been bottled up. No one was better at time management than our Lord Jesus Christ. He knew how to maximize it, but he also knew how to use it wisely. Hello and thanks for stopping by for today's Destin for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepard. You know, Jesus knew there was a time for him to listen and a time for him to speak, a time to learn and a time to teach.
Today, we'll see what it takes to follow in His steps as we seek to use our time wisely and for His glory. Today's message is coming right up, but remember you can always stop by our website, pastorpaul.net, to listen to any of our recent messages on demand, including today's. That's pastorpaul.net.
Now, let's listen to Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message. There's a reason for every season. Matthew chapter four. Verses 12. And seventeen.
When Jesus heard that John, speaking of John the Baptist, had been put in prison He returned to Galilee. Verse 17. From that time on. Jesus began to preach. Repent.
For the kingdom of heaven is near from that time on. John chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. On the third day, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples. had also been invited to the wedding.
When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, They have no more wine. Dear woman, why do you involve me? Jesus replied. My time has not yet come. My time Has not yet come.
John chapter 7. After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. purposely staying away from Judea. Because the Jews there were waiting To take his life. But when the Jewish feast of tabernacles was near, Jesus' brothers said to him, You ought to leave here.
and go to Judea so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world. For even his own brothers did not believe in him. Therefore, Jesus told them.
The right time for me has not yet come. For you. Any time is right. The world cannot hate you. But it hates me because I testify.
That what it does is evil. You go to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast. Because for me The right time has not yet come. Having said this, he stayed.
In Galilee. You can tell by these passages, I'm going to be talking about time. The significance of time. I've entitled this. Message: There's a reason for every season.
We've got to get good at understanding the movements of God in our lives if we're going to truly follow Jesus. And we've been talking about being fully devoted followers of Christ. And if you're going to follow Jesus, you've got to understand that Jesus was very intentional about when he did what he did, because he understood that time is of the essence. And in the opening part of this series, I talked about the fact that time is the second most valuable gift God has given to us, and it's more important than anything except salvation. Salvation is the only thing that trumps time in importance.
Everything else, every other gift, every other calling, everything that God would have you involved in, you need time to do it.
So, we've got to learn to value time. We've also got to learn to recognize, to appreciate, and to maximize seasons.
Now, seasons are given to us by God to organize the use of our time and to help us accomplish the purposes of God. And so we're talking now about. Seasons, the way God moves in our lives by seasons. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 3. And the key verse there is verse 1, Ecclesiastes chapter 3.
See, that's why you need to know where the books of the Bible are. Because right now, somebody is praying for a word of knowledge as to where Ecclesiastes is. Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verse 1. There is a time for everything. and a season for every activity under heaven.
See, there's a time. There's a time. It's not just the what in the plan of God, it is the when. The win. You can do the right thing at the wrong time and get the wrong results.
Jesus, in one of the texts we read, was going to go to the Feast of Tabernacles, but he said, This is not the time to do it. The timing of God is very important in our lives. There's a time to be born, a time to die. We talked about that. The time to plant, time to uproot, there's a time to kill, not people.
At a time to heal, a time to tear down, time to build, time to weep. Time to laugh. I left off talking about a time to laugh. We've got to learn that there are times in our lives where we need laughter, it is medicine for the soul. It's medicine for the soul.
Some of you just need to crack up, just get a good old laugh in. You're too crabby and cranky and irritable. Get you some friends who are comedians who just know how to keep you laughing. Don't have a party with nothing but boring folk there. Bring some folk who know how to make you laugh.
There's a time for that. Time to mourn, time to dance and celebrate and rejoice in what God has done.
Some people are always moping, always complaining, but look at the bright side of things. And rejoice. A time to scatter stones. And a time to gather them. He's just talking about the seasons of life, the activities that God would have you involved in in your life.
There's a time to embrace. There's a time to refrain from embracing. Sengos, listen to that. When you're dating, that's not the time to embrace, that's the time to learn. Who are you?
Who are you really? Affection can come down the road. Right now, we need information, not affection. Come to the singles cruise. I'll tell you more about that.
A time to search. And a time to give up.
Some of us need to learn that. There's a time to be diligent and search out some things in your life, but there comes another time when God says, let it go. Let it go, release it. There are some things you have done all your due diligence, and now you got to give it up and give it over to God. That's the wonderful thing about knowing God.
Prayer allows you to release. The Bible says, casting all your cares on Him because He cares for you.
Some of us, we're in a season now where the Spirit just keeps saying to you, every time you open your Bible, just about, God is telling you, let it go. You hear a message. Here it is again, let it go. Time to release some things into the hands of the Lord. Time to release some people into the hands of the Lord.
You've been hassling with them long enough. Let them go. Love them. But. Put them in the hands of the Lord and you move forward.
A time to keep. and a time to throw away. There's a time to tear and a time to mend. Watch this: a time to be silent.
Some of us are in a shut-up season. Holy Spirit is telling you, shut your mouth. We've heard everything you got to say. Time to shut up. One of the saints I grew up around said, you need shut mouth grace.
Those old folk have some sayings. I'm asking God to give me shut mouth grace. That's a good grace to get.
Some of y'all don't even put in for shut mouth grace. You think the world needs to hear what you think all the time. But how many know there comes a time to be silent? If you don't believe it, ask your spouse. Ask your friends you've been bellyaching to about the same thing over and over again.
Is it time to be silent? And then there is a time to speak.
Some of you gotta find your voice. You're in a season now where the Lord is leading you to find your voice.
Some of you have been bottled up too long. You haven't said anything, and you're a pressure cooker. God doesn't want all that pressure building up. There is a time to speak up. The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 4, be angry.
But don't sin. There's a time to express your anger. Anger can be righteous. Anger can be righteous when it's aimed at solving an issue, dealing with a problem that needs to be corrected, and there is a time for you to express yourself. If you don't express yourself legitimately and let God help you get a voice, one of these days you're going to have an explosion.
Have you ever seen anyone explode? They should have been kind of releasing the pressure along the way, but instead it's building up, and when you see them blow. See, some of y'all have seen it, I can tell. Time to speak. There's a time to love.
Actively, proactively, love. That's the hallmark of the child of God, the character of Christ is love. But there's a time to hate not people, but hate evil, hate unrighteousness. Hate the actions of people that are not in accordance with the will of God. And there comes a time to draw that boundary, to set things straight, set the house in order.
There is a time to hate. There's a time to take your stand and say, no, this is unacceptable. There's a time for war. And there's a time for peace. Still ahead, the second half of today's Destined for Victory message, featuring the teaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard.
If you enjoy listening to Pastor Paul, you may want to subscribe to our podcast. It's the easiest way to get the program delivered to you and listen on demand. You can find us on your favorite podcast platform, and of course you can always listen to recent programmes at our website, pastorpaul. net. PastorPaul.net.
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Why is time management so important? Because each one of us has an eternal purpose, a God-ordained reason for being here.
Now let's get you back to the rest of today's message. There's a reason for every season. Ben.
Solomon goes on in this passage to say, what does a worker gain from his toil? I've seen the burden God has laid on men.
Now, look at verse 11, a key verse. He has made everything beautiful. And It's time. He's also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. That's very significant.
God has set eternity in our hearts. All of us have an eternal purpose that is at work in us. Ephesians 2:10, we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance. for us to do. What's going on in us is an eternal work.
God ordained it in eternity past. You show up in time to perform it, to bring it to pass. God has invested time in you, gifts in you, a calling in you, and you are on the planet to give Him a return on His investment. And so eternity has been placed in our hearts. We can't fathom the whole thing because we only have a slice of what God wants to do.
That's why you can't afford to be conceited, because it's not about you. You have a slice of it, but there were people before you doing the will of God. There'll be people after you doing the will of God. You are not all that. I know that hurts your feelings, but let it hurt good.
You're not all that, you're some of that. You're a little bit of that. You are in a relay race.
Somebody gave you the baton. You're now running your leg. One day you're going to hand it off. And we're gonna bury you. And they're going to run on.
It's not about you. Life is not about you and your generation. God thinks in generations, plural. We are just part of his plan. Don't get stuck on yourself.
Anybody wrapped up in himself is a small package. Just understand you're part of the plan. And if you want to fulfill God's part of the plan for you, you've got to discern your seasons. And you gotta learn to move with God. And to do the right things in the right seasons.
How do I know? The Word of God is going to guide me. The Spirit of God is going to guide me. Very often, circumstances will dictate the season because God, remember, is the one who's at work in us both to willing to do of His good pleasure. And so God is moving in our lives.
So we've got to get this thing down about times and seasons. Times and seasons.
Now, I want you to understand something as I build further on that foundation. I want you to understand that God has predestined some things for our lives, but the fulfillment of those things is neither sudden nor automatic. The fulfillment of God's purpose for your life is neither sudden. nor automatic.
Now, I've got to teach this because our generation loves to believe that one or both of those things is going to happen in our lives, that whatever God wants is just going to happen. And then there are some people who say that it's going to happen suddenly. I want to let you know that if you want to be part of the significant work that God is doing in the earth today, do not plan on sudden success or automatic success. The best things God will have you involved in are neither sudden nor automatic.
Now, let me qualify it. God is sovereign, and there are times for his own purposes. God will do a sudden work. God will instantly just catapult you into a certain situation or give someone some sort of instant blessing. God is God.
He can do whatever he wants. God is the one who sets up the principles by which the world works, and he can defy his own laws if he wants to.
So I'm qualifying it by saying, yes, I have seen sudden blessings. I've seen sudden manifestations. I've seen sudden works of God. But here is the M.O., here is the law that God put in the universe. It is the law of sowing and reaping.
The law of sowing and reaping. And what that law tells you is that God typically does not do the best works in our lives suddenly or automatically. They happen By us obeying and following the principles of the law of the harvest. There are four principles that govern the law of the harvest. I've talked about them before, but you need to be reminded of them, and they're new to some of you.
Four principles that govern the law of the harvest. Principle number one, you reap if you sow. Number two, you reap what you sow. Number three, you reap after you sow. Number four, you reap more than you sow.
All right. Those are the principles that govern the law of the harvest. It's a law in nature. God established it. In fact, He said in Genesis 8: after the flood, He said, as long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest will never cease.
God said, for the rest of life on earth, earth will be governed by the principle of sowing and reaping, seed time and harvest. Which means all of us have to get used to, we have to understand what that law is governed by. You reap if you sow. What are you doing looking for a harvest and you haven't sown anything? We got to learn this.
We got a generation of folk who just think blessings and provision and fulfillment and purpose and all that's just going to happen in your life because you're cute. Not so. You do the will of God when you set out to do the will of God. When you determine, I am going to sow in the direction of fulfilling the purpose that God has ordained for my life. You reap if you sow.
If you sow, if you haven't sown, you don't reap.
Some of us should have learned that early on. I now know that's what my mama was trying to do when she gave us allowance. Because our allowance was tied to chores. I know now a lot of folk don't do that. In fact, I've heard an expert recently saying, don't tie it to chores because you don't want to make the children feel like they have to earn your love.
You don't earn my love, you got my love, you earn my money. Let me help you here. Let me help you here. Now, you do with your kids whatever you want. I'm not going to mess with you.
But let me help you understand something. That's what our parents were trying to do when they tied the allowance to the chores. They put that little list on the refrigerator or somewhere, y'all remember, put the little magnet up there, and you saw what you were supposed to do. And so you washed your dishes or you swept the floor or whatever it was. And after you did that, you got your allowance.
You didn't get allowance because you were cute. And they were teaching us the law of you reap if you sow. Did you do your allowance? No. Then what are you doing with your handout?
I want to go. This weekend, they're going to a special thing, and I want to go, and it's going to cost X amount of money.
Well, do you have that much? No. Well, what you gonna do to work for it? Are you willing to work for it? See, that's old fashioned.
Some of y'all already are cringing. Oh, they're just But you know what they were doing? They were preparing us for our future. They were teaching us: no one is going to give you a living just because you exist.
So they say do some extra chores. Give you some extra money. They were tying it. You reap if you sow. It's a principle.
It not only applies to finances, it applies to many areas of your life. If you want to reap in relationships, you have to sow in relationships. You want friends, you must show yourself friendly. Stop sitting around in the corner talking about you wish you had somebody in your life.
Well, go where the people are. Go to church. Go to fellowship groups. Get involved in ministry. Meet folk.
Build relationships. You have to be intentional. You can't sit somewhere in a corner in the dark asking God to give you a friend. Oh, this is good. The good, I'll encourage myself.
Preach, Pastor, you doing good. Yeah. It applies to your finances. You want to get your financial house in order? You're going to have to take deliberate steps.
to begin to sow in the direction of financial freedom. It will not just happen automatically. You've got to sow in that direction. You want to get involved in ministry, you believe God's called you to some area of vocational ministry, or your career. You need to get established in a certain career, or you're feeling God pushing you in a certain direction.
You've got to take some proactive steps. You only reap if you sow. Second law that governs the harvest is you reap what you sow. That'll help you to understand the importance of doing the right things. 'Cause it's coming back.
You who mistreat people is coming back. The law works positive and negative. You reap what you sow. Be not deceived. Galatians chapter 6 says, God is not mocked.
Whatever a man sows, That shall he also reap. You're going to reap what you sow. Treat folk right cause it's coming back. Be diligent because it's coming back. On you.
I told you many times, I don't like being with people who mistreat others. I don't want you in my company because I'm looking for the right harvest. Looking for the right harvest. I don't eat with cheap folk who don't know how to leave a decent tip. Don't you know you reap what you sow?
Then you want to complain they won't give you a raise on your job. Uh Look at the harvest you're preparing for yourself. You won't be generous toward others. Why you want somebody to be generous towards you? Preach past it.
Reap what you sow.
So glad you stopped by for today's Destined for Victory message. There's a reason for every season. If you joined us late, or if you want to hear the full message one more time, or the full series in its entirety, stop by pastorpaul.net. That's pastor Paul.
Well, as followers of Christ, one of the things we learn early on is that everything we have belongs to God. In fact, the earth and everything in it belongs solely to Him.
so our money, our talent, even our very lives, are not our own. During the final year of his life, just before being called home to be with the Lord, Pastor Paul Shepherd preached an excellent series on this very subject. He spent several months talking about the importance of stewardship in every area of life. And today we're pleased to announce that we've put these messages together in a hardcover book. And we'd love for you to have your very own copy as our thank you for your best year end gift of twenty five dollars or more to day.
Again, the book is called Becoming an Excellent Steward, and it's yours today as you make your best gift of twenty five dollars or more to Destined for Victory. You can give that gift by phone by calling 855-339-5500. That's eight five five three three nine fifty five hundred. 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.
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Be not deceived. Galatians chapter 6 says, God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, That shall he also reap. You're going to reap what you sow. Treat folk right cause it's coming back.
Be diligent because it's coming back. All on you. And that's next time at our Destined for Victory message. There's a reason for every season. Until then, remember.
He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.
