Here's an important announcement now from Meredith Sheppard. Hello, Destined for Victory family. This is Meredith Shepherd, Pastor Paul's wife. This is the first time you're hearing from me since my beloved husband went home to be with the Lord. And I want you to know your prayers have carried me.
Your letters, your messages, cards, books, the ways you've reached out during these months, they've strengthened me through the shock and the grief in ways I can't fully express. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You know, Paul often said that he wanted to be the black J. Vernon McGee. He'd say it with that grin of his, but behind the humor was something deeply serious.
A vision to create a teaching library that would outlive him, that would keep speaking biblical truth long after he was gone. And that's what he did. For decades, Paul poured himself into buildings destined for victory. not just as a radio programme, but as a legacy. He wanted to make sure that timeless truth would be available to help people live victorious lives no matter what generation they're in.
That's why I'm talking to you today, because what Paul worked so hard to build needs your help to continue. Recently, we experienced a change in one of our major funding sources, and for the first time in this ministry's history, we're at risk of losing radio stations, of having to pull back from communities where people depend on this teaching. I don't want my husband's voice silenced. I don't want the work he dedicated his life to building to disappear because of funding. We need to preserve what Pastor Paul poured himself into creating.
So I'm coming to you, this family that's already been so supportive, and I'm asking. Will you help us? if destined for victory has encouraged you Challenged you, or helped you grow in your walk with God, would you consider giving to-day? A monthly gift would especially help us stabilize our funding and keep Paul's teaching on the air in every community that needs it. You can give at pastorpaul.net.
And as our thank you, we'd love to send you Paul's hardcover book, Becoming an Excellent Steward, a collection of his last year of teaching that our family just finished editing. It's a beautiful reminder of his heart and his wisdom. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for standing with us. And thank you for your generosity in helping to preserve this legacy.
God bless you. Thank you, Meredith. Becoming an Excellent Steward is available today as our thank you for your best gift of $25 or more. Your generosity will help Destin for Victory through the current financial deficit and keeps Pastor Paul's teaching alive on this station. More details are available at pastorpaul.net.
That's pastorpaul.net, or you can make your best year-end gift now by calling 855-339-5500. 855-339-5500. Uh I want you to understand that there is a purpose that God preordained. For your life.
Now, if you're gonna discover that purpose, you're gonna have to choose the right company. And be careful about who you hang out with. Hello, and thanks for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepard. The Bible says that before God formed you in the womb, He knew you. And he had plans for your life even then.
But sometimes we get sidetracked by things or people, and we lose sight of his purpose. Today, we'll talk about the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people, godly believers who will encourage and strengthen you in accordance with God's will. The message is coming right up, but remember you can always visit our website, pastorpaul.net, where you can listen to any of our recent messages on demand, including today's. That's pastorpaul.net.
Now, let's listen in to Pastor Paul as he shares life lessons from the Christmas story. She is pledged to be married to Joseph. She is, we would call it in our day, engaged, except that engagement in Bible time was a covenant. You are actually married with no benefits. You're married by covenant.
There hasn't been the celebration yet. The families may still be negotiating. The terms There hasn't been the days-long celebration, and only after that was there consummation. We need to go back to the way it's supposed to be, y'all. Consummation is at the end.
Not along the way.
Well, you know, we're getting there.
Well, you know, he said he loves me. That's good enough. No, no, no, no. You start with the covenant. Get a covenant.
A real commitment. Sisters, get a real ring on your finger. A real one.
Something my man had to pay for. No no cheap I want it You know. No, no, make my man pay a price. People treasure and value what they're invested in. Pay a price.
Some of y'all wanna get married so bad, you buy the ring. I'm just trying to help you. I love you and all. Pastor loves you. Be affirmed.
I love you. Don't buy your own ring. Let him buy the ring. Let him make a commitment. The pattern you start is the pattern you're going to live with.
He'll say you bought the ring, go on and knock out this rent. Why don't you? Why you at it, why don't you knock out my car, Bill? No, no, no. I'm old-fashioned.
Let the man buy the ring. Let him make a commitment. Enter into real covenant. We don't have families negotiating anymore in Western society. It's all about love and romance.
Back in the Bible days, you had to come up with something more than that. You had to come with it. And so you're already off the hook because of that. And you know, we don't have days-long celebration, but go on and stop and have an official ceremony, get married. And if you don't want to have a reception, that's fine.
Get married. And then, once you got the paper in your hand, then have at it. Ha ha ha! There's God's plan. We're talking about divine purpose.
That's divine purpose. No paper? No goodies. That's God's plan. That's God's plan.
We got all kind of funny notions about what's okay now.
Well, we're living together, we're not married, but we have in our minds committed ourselves one to another. There's a Greek word for that, baloney. Once you come into a knowledge of the truth, I know some folk don't have it because in the world you don't get it. When you show up at church, hear a preacher like me who will love you, but tell you the truth that you need to get married, the moment you hear that truth, you're obligated to walk in it.
So don't say, okay, well, next year sometime after we get our money together, then we're going and do it right and keep on playing house in the meantime. No, you stop and honor God. I have married people in an office. I'm not telling you what I think, I'm telling you what I've done. I married them in an office.
When they said, We heard the word, we know we're supposed to be married. I said, Go get yourself a license. They run down there and get it, come back a few days later, and we marry them. You don't need a whole bunch of witnesses and a whole bunch of dresses.
Well, we're trying to coordinate the colors, and no, no, you don't have time for all of that. Bless your heart. You need to get in the will of God so you can fulfill divine purpose. Y'all broke anyway. What are you doing trying to plan a wedding?
Go on and get into divine purpose and let God bless your life. Y'all messing up my message. Let me get back to what I'm saying. Hehehehe So these people are pledged to be married. It's a covenant.
That's not been consummated.
So Joseph is already A major part of her life. She is in covenant. She has pledged. to marry this man. Why didn't she Go to the To Joe.
She didn't go to Joe. Because when God is doing extraordinary things in your life. Not everyone can understand that. Even righteous people like Joseph was. Even some holy people won't get it.
You ever had God work in your life in such a way that people who love God, walk in righteousness, walk in faith, they don't have an understanding. of what God is doing in your life. She knew better than to go to Joe because she knew if this information had to come to me by way of a divine being. An angelic being, if God had to send an angel. To tell me this, why would I show up on Joel's doorstep?
And try to communicate in the natural what was communicated to me by supernatural means. She knew that would have been a waste of her time. Imagine her saying, um,. Sit down. Got something to tell you.
You comfortable? Honey? I'm pregnant. And God did it. You understand what I'm saying?
That doesn't fly. I don't care how godly Joseph is. And he was a godly man. But he couldn't have handled that information. He'd have had no frame of reference.
So she doesn't go to Joseph. She doesn't go to the other virgins in the land. Her girlfriends. To share the good news. They can't be happy for her.
They don't have a context. Even if they want to be happy, they can't. They're too confused. And then you know some of them would have been straight-up haters. You gotta understand when God is at work, when you are the product of divine purpose, when divine purpose is being fulfilled in your life, you have to beware of haters.
There are some people who can't handle God at work in you. They cannot do anything but destroy what God is doing. You can't speak to everybody.
Some folk are just haters. That's not in your Bible, but that's who they are. The term isn't there, but the reality is there. Throughout redemptive history, you find somebody operating in divine purpose, and you find some other folk who are haters in their lives. You find me a Nehemiah?
Then let's talk about Sam Ballet and Tobiah. Who were haters. Here, the man is building a wall. God put a burden on his heart to rebuild the burned, torn down, destroyed wall of Jerusalem so the city can once again be safe and fortified. And who comes along?
A couple of haters. Who come and make fun. That's the first thing that they did. They said, What do you call yourself doing rebuilding the wall? You can't rebuild the wall.
This isn't, you call this a wall. If a fox climbs up on this, he'll destroy it. That's what they told him. You ever had people, all you're doing is trying to do a good work. And all they're doing is trying to tear it down.
There's some great advice. Invest time talking to people who are wiser and more experienced than you are.
Now, don't go away. We'll be right back with the rest of today's Destin for Victory message featuring Pastor Paul Shepherd. But 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 at your favorite podcast platform, and of course, you can always listen to recent programs at our website, PastorPaul.net.
That's Pastor Paul.net. You know, for well over a decade now it's been our pleasure to share these Destined for Victory messages, and we have listening friends and partners like you to thank. You're the ones who provide all of our financial support, and we're so grateful for all you've done. To give generously today, please visit pastorpaul.net or call 855-339-5500. When you're faced with a brand new challenge, it's always a good idea to talk to someone who not only trusts God the way you do, but who has been through what you're about to go through.
Now, let's get you back to the second half of today's message: Life Lessons from the Christmas Story. And so Nehemiah kept on building. He said, God's going to give us a blessing. God's going to make this happen. Kept on building.
They show up later on when the work is far advanced. And now, instead of just ridiculing, now the Bible says they plot to kill him. There are some folk who will assassinate what God's doing in your life. And you've got to be aware of that. Mary knew that there were some people who just couldn't handle it for various reasons.
So, what does she do? She goes. to Elizabeth. Before she worries about Joe, before she talks to anybody else. She goes and finds someone who is more pregnant with divine purpose than she is.
She finds someone who, when you tell them, God is doing something supernatural in me. They know what you're talking about. If you've ever tried to speak the language of faith, To people who live in the land of doubt. You know the frustration thereof. When you try to tell people God is speaking to me about some things.
And they don't know the voice of God. They can't possibly comprehend it.
So, what do you do? You find someone who's more pregnant with divine purpose than you are.
So that they can nurture. And they can bless what God is doing in your life. She shows up at Elizabeth's house. Elizabeth is six months pregnant. She's already showing.
She's already giving indication. That God has done something supernatural by touching these two old folk. And blessing them to come up with this child who is going to be a prophet who heralds the coming of the Lord Jesus. There's a direct link in the spirit between these two babies: the one that's just being conceived in Mary and the one who is six months along in Elizabeth. And when you read further on, when they greet each other.
The baby in Elizabeth's womb leaps. There's a spiritual connection. When you hook up with the right folk, there's something that happens in the spiritual realm. The Bible says, when two of us come together and agree. It's powerful in the kingdom of God.
You got to find some folk who can walk in agreement with you. Find some folk who can believe God with you. Find people who can help you realize what God's plan and purpose is for your life. If you want to get over that habit that has just owned you and controlled you, quit talking to folk who don't know the power of God. All they'll do is tell you, well, I read, I was on the internet, and I read about that.
People don't get off of what you hooked on. How's that gonna get you delivered? You believe in God for deliverance and talking to folk who wouldn't know deliverance if it hit them in the face. How are you gonna get healed and you're talking to folk who are telling you they had an uncle who died with what you had? If you are married.
With divine purpose beginning to grow in your life, find an Elizabeth who's further along in that same journey. Because your faith can connect. And God can begin to do some supernatural things in you.
Now, I want to go a little deeper. Mary talks to Elizabeth not only because she needs to begin to experience the synergy of people with like precious faith. She talks to Elizabeth because Elizabeth has experienced what Mary has yet to experience. They both have the commonality of divine purpose. But one is further along.
So now Elizabeth can encourage her when Mary is going through the early stages. Because you know, when you're pregnant with divine purpose, That pregnancy is going to run a course, a cycle, and it's going to go through stages and seasons. You're going to have morning sickness. You're going to have, you know, look in the natural. When a person is pregnant in the natural, typically, not always, but typically, they'll have some type of morning sickness.
They'll be nauseated. And that sort of thing. And you know, you're brand new pregnant, and you don't know how to deal with that. It's helpful to have somebody who says, Yes, I know what you're going through. No, you might feel like you're going to die, but hold on, everything is all right.
Here, just take some liquids here, just do this, and you'll be all right. You need somebody who can walk you through the process God has you in. You're going to have those times when you are pregnant. Watch this. But not showing.
That can be a difficult time. When you believe God, But there's no indication. You believe in God, you heard from God, you believe you're on the course of divine purpose. But you don't see results. See, we're results-oriented people.
Show me something. I told you, when I first came out here and God had spoken the word that I was going to lead a church that would grow very large and we'd win thousands of people to Christ straight out of the world and what have you. And I just saw it by faith. I saw it. Got out here, shared it with the 34 people I came to pastor.
Woo! Thousands are coming. Oh, they're going to be getting saved all over the place, thousands of them. That's a wonderful vision, and they bought it. They believed it.
They stood in faith with me. But what about those years? That we were pregnant with purpose. But not showing. Y'all stayed away in droves.
We didn't know where y'all were. We were praying. We were fasting. We were believing. We were strategizing, we were doing everything we could do.
And I'd walk out on the stage of that renovated theater every Sunday morning and look at the twos and fuss. We were in a theater that sat 300 people. And let me tell you something. In those early days we first moved in the theater, there was about 50 of us, the thing sat 300. And they used to sit real close together.
And one week I was just frustrated. I said, y'all spread out. Spread out, spread out. It's just discouraging to sit up here just preaching this little bunch of folks just sitting right in here. Spread out, let my faith grow to believe God.
So they started spreading out a little bit. Still didn't help, it wasn't any more of them. Same little twos and fuss. We had divine purpose. God was at work.
But sometimes he's at work in you. And it hasn't yet manifested. It does not yet appear what we shall be. to use the language of 1 John.
Sometimes God's at work, but it doesn't yet appear. And you've got to have somebody. who can walk you through a season. Where God is at work, and see, that's what they'll help you. To know.
No, no, don't worry about showing. Every day there you are looking. Y'all see anything? I see a little bubble, but it might be gas. I don't know.
Yeah. See, and you are trying to evaluate whether God's at work, you need somebody to say, no, no, no, God is at work. Just hold on. My wife used to tell me in those years, I'd be driving home from church discouraged. And I just say, oh Lord, I think we missed it.
Don't tell me I dr I came all the way out to California. And God hadn't spoken to me, I thought, sure, I heard from Him. But where are these people? And she was that voice of faith. She said, No, no, we heard from God.
Just stay the course. See you you're looking in the mirror. You're trying to see whether you're pregnant But we got to stand in faith and believe God. And for years, sometimes you go through a period. In your spiritual pregnancy.
Where you are indeed pregnant with purpose. But you're not showing. That's why you got to have the right company. Folk who know, no, no, this is all right. No, no, don't panic.
God is still at work. See, you talk to the wrong folk. They say, yeah, child, you better get this up. I suggest you cut your losses and get out of here. If I had cut my losses, many people wouldn't be in the kingdom today.
I had to stay and believe God. Uh As we prepare to celebrate our Savior's birth, Let us also consider our Savior's life, how he lived humbly, sacrificially, and with the will of God as his first priority. Here at Destined for Victory, we believe in the power of prayer, and one of the things we'd love to do here is pray for you, our listening friends and partners. We do it regularly for all of you in general, but we'd also be honored to pray for you, the individual.
So, please, if you need prayer today, come by pastorpaul.net and use the contact feature at the top of our homepage to share your request with us. That's pastorpaul.net.
The goal of living is to fulfill divine purpose, not your personal agenda for life, not what you think your life ought to be like. If you want to know the purpose of a thing, don't ask the thing, ask the creator. The Creator knows what it wants out of everything that it creates. And God is our Creator, and He knew what He wanted out of us before He sent us to the planet. And that's tomorrow in our continuing message, Life Lessons from the Christmas Story.
Until then, though, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.
