Be not deceived. Galatians chapter 6 says, God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, That shall he also reap. You're gonna reap what you sow. Treat folk right cause it's coming back.
Be diligent because it's coming back. On you. Hello and thanks for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepard.
Well, when you hear the word diligence you may think of being persistent at doing something. But sometimes we have to be diligent in a period of learning, of listening, of closing our one mouth and opening our two ears. It's all part of knowing what season of life we're in and learning to sow diligently in that place where God has called us to be.
Now remember, you're always invited to come see us at pastorpaul.net, where you can listen to any recent message on demand, including today's. That's pastorpaul.net. Subscribe to our podcast at Spotify or wherever you enjoy your podcasts. But now let's listen closely to Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message: There's a reason for every season. Third law that governs the law of the harvest is: you reap after you sow, delayed gratification.
Delayed gratification. No sudden success. You reap after you sow. There are different seasons. Before you get to the reaping season.
And then, fourth, you reap more than you sow. If you'll sow the right harvest, God will very often give you a bumper crop. Where you get much more abounding back towards you than you have invested. You make a good investment, but God will give you a great return. That's what I'm believing for.
Good investment, great return. But you got to make sure that you are doing the will of God in every area of your life.
So the law of the harvest is governed by these four principles. And then there are four stages. The stage or the season of preparing when it comes to a harvest, the stage or season of sowing, the stage or season of waiting. And then the stage or season of reaping. Let's talk about preparation and apply it to various areas of our lives.
When you're in a season of preparing, you've got to master the right things.
Now, in Luke chapter 2, Jesus is 12 years old. I referenced this in the first part. I want to now focus more on it in the second part of this message. Jesus was 12 years old in Luke chapter 2, and his parents. Found him in the temple courts.
Listening and asking questions. Of the elders there, of the leaders there. And they thought he was in the caravan going back home. And it was a day later when they discovered he wasn't with them. They turned around, went back to Jerusalem, and found him there, and his mother scolded him.
And said, Why have you done this? We've been looking for you. He said, Why were you looking for me? Didn't you know where I would be? Twelve years old, Jesus knew that he was purposeful.
He knew that the Father was going to ordain him to do all that he ended up doing.
So, what is he doing? He is even at 12 in a season of preparation. Season of preparation is characterized by acquiring knowledge and wisdom. Jesus is in the temple courts, and what's he doing? He is not preaching.
He is listening. And he is asking questions.
Some of us have got to understand that if you, in some area of your life, are in a season of preparing, you've got to prepare like Jesus prepared. He prepared by listening, by learning, and by being led by other people. Listening, learning, and being led. It characterizes your season of preparing. Are you preparing for something in some area of your life that you know is the will of God?
Well, then you've got to get good at listening, learning, and being led.
Now that's a challenge for some of us, because some of us talk more than we listen. This is gonna hurt, but let it hurt good. We talk too much. In the season of preparation, you got to look at your face and get God's message. You have one mouth, but two ears.
What's that tell you? Listen at least twice as much as you talk. You're in a season of preparing. You're in a season of learning. If you believe God's called you to a new vocation, He's changing the course of your life, then you have to begin to learn, gather information, get into a place, get into an environment where you can learn what you need to learn in order to do the will of God.
No sudden success. You're going to have to take your time and learn and listen and be led. How are you going to get your financial house in order? You got to start listening to folk who have theirs in order and know how to help you get yours in order. You can't just, oh God, I'm believing you to be debt-free.
Wonderful. Wonderful. If your purpose for doing that is to be able to do the will of God. See, God has no vested interest in getting you debt-free if you're just going to consume it upon yourself. But if your interest is to magnify God, to glorify Him, to expand the kingdom, to support ministry, to help the poor, to do the things that God's called you to do, yes, He'll allow you to enjoy the fruit of your own blessings, but it is not all for you.
You are blessed to be a blessing. And if that's your purpose, yes, God, I want to give more. I don't want to just be a tither. I want to be a 20% or 25% or whatever it is that God's called me to do. God, I want to help folks.
I want to establish ministries. I want to sow into ministries that are helping those who are less fortunate than I am. If that's your interest, then God will bless you to get debt-free.
Now, how are you going to do it? You got to talk to somebody who knows. That's why we've established in this church ministries of helping people get their finances in order. See, when I was growing up, churches didn't have that kind of thing.
Well, to be perfectly honest, they didn't need it nearly as much as they need it now. Because you know, back in the day when I was growing up, folk were more inclined to live within their means. It wasn't quite a debt-driven society like it is now. Here we are decades later and folk just lived their lives on debt. And so the result is, we now have to establish ministries.
And it doesn't sound spiritual, but I promise you it is. I promise you, if you want to help people get their lives ordered by the will and the word of God, you got to help them in practical areas.
So if that's your goal If that's your goal, you've got to go and submit yourself. Be led by a budget coach, somebody who will. You've got to lay out your stuff. You can't be all self-contained and get help. You gotta be willing to tell how much debt are you in?
Well, I really don't wanna say.
Well, then you're not getting out. You got an addiction and you go, well, what are you addicted to? I really don't want to say, how are they going to help you? No, no, no, no. You have got to become transparent.
You've got to listen. You've got to learn. You've got to be led. Season of preparing. You who are new to the faith, how are you gonna grow?
You gotta listen, you gotta learn, you gotta be led.
Somebody's gotta disciple you. The reason why we're taking so much time and teaching about following Jesus is because following Jesus helps us then to begin to lead others. We can say, follow me as I follow Christ. Because in the kingdom, it's about being led. It's about someone mentoring you and helping you.
What did Jesus say to Peter in Luke chapter 22 after he told him he was about to deny him? He said, Peter, you're getting ready to have a major meltdown. You are about to really blow it. You're conceited, talking about you're never gonna leave me. By tomorrow morning, you will have denied me three times.
But what did Jesus say to him? He said, But I prayed for you that your faith doesn't fail. Watch this, and when you are converted. Strengthen your brothers. When I finally get you on your feet.
Don't act like you always been on your feet. Have you ever seen anybody like that? You know God blessed them. You know God helped them. You know God brought them an awfully long way.
But you never know it by the way they're acting because they're acting like they never went through anything. No, no. When you are converted... Reach around and strengthen your brothers. Tell somebody I've been where you are.
I know what you're going through. And I know that the power of God is able to lift you up and lift you out. of that situation. And so you've got to understand the season of preparing is to be characterized by listening, by learning, and by being led. That's why the Bible talks so much about wisdom.
That's why Proverbs is so important in the scriptures. Listen to these verses: Proverbs 12:15, the way of a fool. Seems right to him. But a wise man listens to advice. See, a fool won't take advice 'cause they think they know already.
Now, where'd you learn it?
Well, nobody taught me anything, but well, then why you think you know? The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens. to advice. Proverbs thirteen ten, pride only breeds quarrels. The more fussy a person is.
The more prideful they are. Proverbs here says, Pride and quarrels go hand in hand. Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice. Wisdom is found in those who take advice. Proverbs 15, 22.
Plans fail for lack of counsel. But with many advisors, they succeed. See, some of us, we got a good plan. But we need to now work it under the advisement of people who know, or at least we have a good goal, but we now have to execute a plan, and you don't develop a plan in a vacuum. You developed a plan.
By consulting with people. Who can help you get where God is taking you? Proverbs 19, 20. Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end, you will be wise. I'm trying to get you to understand that when you are in some area of your life, you're in a season of preparing.
You've got to be diligent. You've got to be diligent. You've got to submit yourself to the process of listening, of learning, and of being led. 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 our recent messages on demand at pastorpaul.net.
That's pastorpaul.net. Listen and subscribe to our podcast at Spotify, at Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And as you may know, Pastor Paul always wanted the ministry of Destined for Victory to continue long after the Lord called him home. But to fulfill 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. Let's do it together. To make a safe and secure donation online, do so at pastorpaul.net or call 855-339-5500. And if you want to build something up, you have to start by digging down, rolling up your sleeves, and laying a foundation.
So let's get you back to the rest of today's message. There's a reason for every season. There's no rocket science toward God calling you to a certain kind of ministry or a certain career change. You gotta go somewhere and study. And ask God to bless your mind and sanctify you through that process.
You don't want to go to a doctor who's winging it. Isn't that right? I don't want to be sitting on the table and you over leafing through a book. Sitting up there, my life in your hands, and you're like, let me see it. I don't know.
Never quite ran into this one before. No, no, you want someone who knows what they're doing. I'm not taking financial advice for somebody broke. You need to be able to tell me something. You go to a counselor, you go to a therapist, you need to know that they know what they're talking about.
They have spent years. Honing their knowledge and developing the wisdom to guide you through the crises of your life. And so It's important that you take time and prepare. And you've got to listen. You've got to learn.
You've got to be led. This is all the more important because if you do not properly develop these things, then you won't be in the position. See, it's just like building a building. When you see a skyscraper getting ready to go up, very often, you know, they'll fence off that whole block or wherever they're going to build this superstructure. It'll get fenced off, and you'll see all this heavy equipment coming in.
And then what do they do? They start Digging down. The process of building a skyscraper doesn't begin up. If you see a building going straight up, Don't get in it. Isn't that right?
Do not get in it. If you want to build right, you start down. You lay the foundation. Season of preparation is laying a proper foundation. And so when you're in a season of preparation, no one is impressed.
You don't go to a construction site and admire the foundation. It's not impressive. They're building down. There's a lot of dirt. There's a lot of excavation.
There's a lot of steel going in. There's a whole lot of stuff happening down there that doesn't look impressive. Oh, but it's going to be very important. For the finished product. And I'm telling you, God is at work in your life, in various areas of your life.
So don't be surprised when He starts down. When he starts digging into your business, digging into your dysfunction. Saying you've got to change some patterns here. There's some things in your life that we've got to excavate. And so he comes in with his jackhammer and just And begins tearing things up and cutting away and hauling away.
And that period of your life doesn't seem all that wonderful, but a good work is going on. When your life is messy under the supervision of the Holy Spirit, who is the construction site manager? I'm telling you, it doesn't look all that good. But good things are happening. Every time a new dump truck comes and hauls away some more mess out of your life, thank God.
Every time the word of God gets in your business and sends you home crying and working through some things, thank God. Oh, it feels horrible. I'm not playing. It feels horrible. When God is all up in your business, it feels horrible, but He is doing a good work.
And so they start down, and it's a messy job, and it's a protracted length of time. And sometimes you stand there when a superstructure is going up, and you say, when are they going to start building? They've been doing this for months. Nothing's going up yet. Oh, you don't understand.
The higher you go, The deeper you must first go. And so that's true in your seasons of preparation, in any area of your life. Jesus, watch this. He spent thirty years preparing. for a three-year ministry.
Yeah. Thirty years. Luke 2.52 After that encounter when he was 12 years old, Luke 2:52 tells you what happened the next 18 years. It's covered in one sentence flat. And Jesus increased in wisdom.
In stature, In favor with God. And man. That's what he did for 18 years.
Well, 30 including the first 12. He just did four things. He grew in wisdom. He listened, he learned, he was led. He not only in terms of spiritual things, which ultimately he had to be good at knowing the truth, and so he was listening and asking questions at twelve years old, he also learned his vocation that way.
In Jesus' day, you learn by being an apprentice. His dad was a carpenter. He became a carpenter to work in the family business. And Jesus learned and he developed that trade. It's interesting to me that Jesus spent his first 30 years in the carpentry trade.
His crowning moment was going to be hanging on a piece of wood. He spent his life hanging out in the wood shop. And that piece of wood was going to change your life and mine as Jesus hung on that cross and bore our sins. He increased in wisdom, he learned. He increased in stature.
He developed himself physically to do the things God's called him to do. If God's dealing with you, like he has with some of us, about getting your house in order, then you got to submit to the process. We're meeting together and talking about what that looks like, and you got to learn to stop eating to celebrate everything in the world. And there are disciplines you have to put in your life. It doesn't happen instantly.
You can't rebuke fat. Oh, this is good. This is good. You can't rebuke it in the name of Jesus. I curse you in the name of Jesus.
It doesn't happen that way. You rebuke the devil. But you have to discipline the flesh. You have to bring your body under subjection in order to accomplish what you believe God's called you to do. It's not a matter of the Lord loving you.
The Lord loved me when I was tired and out of shape and couldn't hardly get anywhere, but I was sick of having all of this that God had called me to do, and I could hardly make it from one day to the next. And I had to change some patterns so that I could feel better about doing the will of God. I got sick of going to my closet, and most of it I couldn't wear. And I said, this makes no sense, all these wonderful clothes. That I bought during different seasons.
And can't wear it? Why should I build a whole new wardrobe at a whole other size? Why don't I tell myself to get myself in order here?
So, I ain't a bunch of folk here. We're just working through, plowing through. It's excavation and dealing with your stuff and learning your buttons and all of that. And telling you, but the result is wonderful now to be able to just go. And I'm still in the process, still got more I want to do, but now I can just go, whatever's in there.
In fact, I had to give away some of the other stuff. Bless somebody else who's in another season. Mm-hmm. It just made practical sense for me. It wasn't all that spiritual.
I knew God loved me heavy. It wasn't about love, it was about wearing clothes and being healthy and feeling better. And to be able to just get up and put on something and go do what God's called you to do, that made a lot of sense to me. Instead of standing in the closet, oh Lord. Yeah.
Building relationships, same thing. Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, in favor with man as well as God. See, it's about building a relationship with God, growing spiritually, developing, coming to church, getting in the word, praying, getting involved in ministry. But you've got to have a well-rounded life. Life doesn't just consist in that.
The Bible says he increased in favor with man. He built the right relationships with the right people. Jesus knew how to order his life. He knew some folks I will minister to. They're not in my life to bless me, I'm in their lives to bless them.
But in order to minister, he knew that he was going to have an infrastructure of relationships where some relationships blessed him.
So he developed relationships with people who spoke into his life, who made, as I talked about it in our series before, you gotta have fillers to help you with drainers. We all have drainers in our lives, and God is ordained to throw off on them. God loves those folks, that's why He brings you into their life to fill them. But don't look to get filled by them. There are some people you only speak into their lives.
They don't have anything. God hasn't ordained them to bless you. Jesus ministered to folk, and they often left him drained. And so he knew that as he prepared in his season of preparation, so he developed relationships that would help strengthen him. Later on, you see that manifestation of that discipline.
When you see him through the three years of his ministry, you see him easily developing a relationship with Lazarus, with Mary and Martha, with Peter, James, and John, because those six people formed a core in his life of folks he could trust with his heart. When Jesus was at Mary and Martha's house, he was there because those were fillers, those were people, along with their brother Lazarus, who could really bless him and strengthen his life. You gotta understand when you're in a season of preparation. You've got to just get good at this business of letting God. Develop the infrastructure of your life.
so that you can do his will. in every Area of your life. There's a reason for every season. And in different areas of your life, you can be in different seasons. You can be reaping in one area, but you're just starting in the preparation in another area.
Discern what's going on. Lord, help me to look at the areas of my life. What is your will in these areas, and what season am I in here so that I can learn to develop the right practices? and do the things that glorify you. For there's a reason for every season.
Oh. There is a time to sow. A time to reap and a time to speak. But right now, as we approach one of the most exciting times of the year, it's a time to listen because right 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 you personally, for your family, of course, and the Ministry of Destined for Victory. But I also know from the many times I had with your father that he definitely wanted us to continue on. What would you say to our friends listening 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. When you do that to day, friends, we have a very special gift reserved as our way of saying thanks. It's 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 Shepherd preached an excellent series on stewardship. And right now we've put these messages together in a hardcover book. We'd love for you to have your very own copy. It's called Becoming an Excellent Steward, and it's yours today as our thank you for your best gift of $25 or more. Your gift will help us fulfill the vision Pastor Paul had for the future of Destined for Victory and help us finish the year financially strong.
You can give by phone by simply calling 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-5500. Or visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. or mail your gift to Destined for Victory. Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California, nine four five three eight.
In preparation, you're focussed on acquiring knowledge and wisdom. In the sowing season, you're focussed on developing discipline and faithfulness. That's next time in our continuing message. There's a reason for every season. But until then remember this promise.
He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.
