Money, money, money, money, money. Those theologians, the OJs, told us about it. Money isn't the problem. Money is an excellent servant. It's just a horrible master.
When you let your money drive you, It'll drive you straight to hell. The problem isn't the money, the problem is what you let it do. Wealthy people can be generous. Poor people can be greedy. The Bible has never told us otherwise.
Hello and thanks for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepard. Today we'll be exploring what it means to walk in light, what it looks like in our day-to-day lives. There are some things we need to give up, such as sexual immorality, and others we need to take up, like being good stewards of whatever we have. Today's message is straight ahead, but remember, you can always visit pastorpaul.net, where you can hear any recent Destined for Victory message on demand, including today's. That's pastorpaul.net.
Now, let's listen to Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message: Living as Children of Light. Money, money, money, money, money. Those theologians, the LJs, told us about it. Money isn't the problem. Money is an excellent servant.
It's just a horrible master. When you let your money drive you. It'll drive you straight to hell. The problem isn't the money, the problem is what you let it do. And so I need you to understand.
That's what Paul says here is improper for God's children, God's holy people, is when we have greed, intense and selfish. desire. For something, especially wealth. Power, same thing. When you see somebody who is power hungry, who goes after, I want the top rung, or else.
And they don't care who they step on, who they lie on, how they cheat, how they get there. They got the crab mentality on steroids. I'll pull you down so I can get up. And when you see that in workplaces, when you see that in various environments where somebody always wants to clamor for the position where the power lies. That's dangerous.
And God says, if you are one of my holy people, it's improper. I can give you wealth. I can give you power that you can use for my glory. But you can't be selfish and you can't have an intense desire. Your only intense desire should be to do my will.
That's what I'm calling you to do here in the name of the Lord, according to this word. Your intensity ought to be aimed at God. I gotta have the center of your will. I've been outside of your will. It's not fun out there.
It's cold out there. It's isolated out there. I want to be in the center of your will. And that ought to be your heart's cry. The center of God's will.
Lord, I want you to be happy with me at the end of the day. I don't want to have selfish An intense desire for wealth. I don't want to have that for power. I don't want to have it for food, even. Good food is great.
Wonderful. But put it in its context. And don't make it the end all. And so, when the Bible talks about gluttony, about drinking or eating, it is when you have intense and selfish, inordinate desire. As I'm in this case here in my 60s, I said, Lord, I don't want to keep on the yo-yo.
I've had my whole adult life up and down, weight-wise. And I said, Lord, now I want to land in a place and learn how to not go back up. I want to go there, and I want to go to the place that I have in mind to go, and then I want to stay there. And so I'm teaching myself right now: just what are the little subtleties that will keep me from ballooning back to where I have been and am tired of. I have given away those clothes, and I ain't trying to buy no new ones.
I'll tell on me so you can be comfortable. You see, I'm telling on myself. Oh, bless the pastor.
Okay, yeah, pray for me because some of y'all don't know what it's like. But there are some of us here that I won't call them out, but there are others of people here who know exactly what the pastor is talking about. There are some people in here who could tell you, I know what it is to be big. I know what it is to be of my right size. Right size is better.
Because you don't have to pray to go to the closet. See ya, y'all. Yeah. Can we talk? When I got to a certain size at the height of this pandemic, I was so frustrated with this new life.
I hated these masses. I hated the separation. I hated those months of preaching to a camera. Oh my God, I couldn't stand it. Lord, I hate this.
This is not. And food said, come unto me. I am the only one, and the refrigerator was my constant companion. Frustrated with these new changes and all that. Couldn't travel.
All my travel left, all that stuff. I stayed home that first. Y'all remember when it set in, March of 2020? I had to start preaching to a camera. I said, this is in church.
Preaching to a camera, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, I was near suicidal. Yeah. I had to preach for one of the pastors I cover in the young men, Jeremy Dixon, and I preach for him annually as the church celebrates his anniversary. And so they said, you coming down to preach pastor the anniversary? I said, yeah, I'll be there.
And, you know, they still hadn't given us real license to travel.
Some folks were taking necessary trips and all that. And I said, I just got to get out of Northern California. I'm going to lose my mind. Because they wanted to know, was I going to send them the message on video? I said, no, I'm sick of that camera.
I will get in my car. And I will drive down five. If COVID's on five, I'll just pray. Oh, God. I drove all the way to Inglewood.
And they got family there. His wife is my niece, and then his family, all that. And they had a few necessary people in the sanctuary, and I preached.
So I did what I could have done in our sanctuary, but I just needed to do it in somebody else's. I was sick of this.
So I went there and I preached to the camera and a few folks in there, and they said, Amen. And they made it sound a little bit like church. And so we did the best. And then, after a while, I saw my family and I wanted to hug them. I said, I can't hug them.
You know, this is the first month. We were all petrified. We didn't know what we could and couldn't do. I got so upset, I just got back in my car and drove back home. I texted him.
I said, I want to hug you all so bad. I'm sorry that I'm gone. I can't do this. And I drove back. That same day.
But the fact is, food was with me the whole time. All through the pandemic.
So go up to January, New Year's Eve, coming into 2022. We now are approaching we're just a couple of months from the second anniversary of being in pandemic world. And I was the heaviest I have been. in my life New Year's Eve of 2021 going into 2022. I had never been at that weight.
If you recall, I said to the church, here's what I believe we should do as we move into 2022. I want you to ask and answer two questions for yourself. The first is, what do you want to experience? or accomplish By the end of this year, December 31st, 2022, what do you want to do in those 12 months? What do you want to have experienced or accomplished?
I said, I asked the whole church to think about that. I said that'll help you set your short-term goals. And then I said, second question is: I want you to think now: what do you want to experience or accomplish by the end of 2029? Meaning, when we're getting ready to go into the decade of the 30s. If the Lord gives us life, spares our lives, what do you want to experience or accomplish as you're on New Year's Eve getting ready to go into 2030?
I said that'll help you set your long-term goals. Short term this year, long term toward the end of the decade. Remember, I challenged everybody to do that. And I got home and I said, Wow, that's good, that's good. And the Holy Spirit will say, Okay, so what's your answer?
I said, oh, oh, you oh, you want me to answer that? I said, oh, that's easy. I got to get this COVID weight off. And I says the Holy Spirit says, Yeah, that's a good idea. What are you going to do?
And that's when I said, okay, I got to get in the right headspace. For me, it's different for y'all, and greed's never been a problem for some of y'all in any area. But for me, because of the headspace I went into in the pandemic, I wasn't thinking. I've always known how to, yo, yo, get down to a weight I need to get down to, and then I balloon back up. But my headspace, I wasn't ready to get down there and stay.
And it took me the first nine days of 2022. I was wrestling and counting the costs and doing my work of intense self-talk and all the stuff I've learned to do. And by January 10th, I woke up literally and I had been praying the whole nine days: Lord, help me to get there, help me to get there, help me to get there. And I woke up January 10th and was able to do that. I stand here in September of the same year.
I'm 30 pounds less than I was January 10th. I don't say that to brag, I say that to tell you it is possible. If we let God into the situation, whatever your situation is. For me it was Lord, you got to help me. And because this pandemic will go away when it goes away, I think we're going to have to live with some things for the rest of our lives.
I don't know what things. We'll all learn that along the way. But I said, but God, I can't wait for things to get better, for me to get better. And I'm sick of it, of this yo-yo, and so help me to get there. And I'm 30 pounds down, I got more I want to do.
Let's pause right there for a minute, but don't go away just yet. We have more of today's message coming up next. We're so thankful for listening to friends and partners like you who support Destin for Victory with your prayers and financial support. You are a big part of the reason why our media ministry continues to reach the world for Christ. If you'd like to make a safe and secure donation today, please stop by our website, pastorpaul.net.
Or give us a call at 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-5500. Greed isn't just about money. A person can be greedy for power, for attention, even for the last piece of apple pie.
Now, let's get you back to the second half of today's Destiny for Victory message: Living as Children of Light. I got more I want to do, but I'm learning lessons. I don't need to lose it quickly, I just need to lose it permanently.
So I'm learning lessons, I'm learning my patterns, I'm learning my triggers. Y'all, I'm talking about me so you can think about you. I hope you get that. This is not just a testimonial. I'm giving you an opportunity to think about your life.
Where have I been greedy? Has it been a lust for power? Has it been a lust for wealth? Have I spent so much time trying to make a living and get to the next economic rung of the ladder that I'm not making a life?
Some people are all about making a living. I got to get my income to the next level. Good? in its proper place. But do it right.
Do it for the right reasons. Do it in the right way. Do it for the glory of God. Then you can pray about it. I had to pray about getting these 30 pounds off, and I'm praying about getting the rest off.
Lord, help me to learn the lessons. I got to learn my triggers because emotional eating is easy for me to go into. I know how to do that. Emotions can trigger some stuff, and next thing you know, you're grabbing for something that you know is not going to get you to your goal. I even have learned to give myself intentional pre-planned times of eating whatever I want.
Talking about me.
Some of y'all can eat grass all day, every day, and be fine. Don't judge me. That's all I got to say. Oh, I just grab an alfalfa sprout and I'm just fine. Yeah, no, that won't work for the brother.
Alfalfa sprout don't work for me. That's not a snack I enjoy. I'm trying to help somebody. Every now and then I need some cake. And don't y'all judge me, Pastor.
Get your eyes on your plate. You looking over here at my plate four. I got what I want on my plate. I'm trying to help you work through this thing. To understand whether it's your lust for power, your lust for wealth, or your lust for food, greed is an intense and self-centered desire.
You can want money, but you can't let money Have you? You can have the money, but you can't let the money have you.
So, don't climb the ladder of success only to find out it's leaned against the wrong building. Your priorities have to be to do the will of God. To love and support the kingdom. and to take care of your family. In a reasonable way, while you're first prioritizing the kingdom, seek first.
The things that matter to God. And then what He will do He'll bless you on the backside of that. And we've got to understand that. That's not going to change. It's in the Word of God.
It's going to be there until Jesus comes again.
So seek first his kingdom. That'll keep your desires from being selfish when you are God-focused, Lord. Are you glorified by the way I'm eating? Are you glorified by the way I'm handling my money matters and my money priorities and desires? Are you satisfied by the way I'm going after positions?
Positions that some of which have power are not wrong, but if I'm going to use it for God's glory, Daniel, God gave him a position in a pagan country. And he and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were powerful young men in a pagan society. God's not against power. It's just that when the king loses his mind and builds an idol. and commands everybody bow to it.
You say no, no. I'm a child of light. That's darkness. I'm not bowing. And they stood tall while other people bowed.
And you know the story. Never Kennezza heard about him because there's always a snitch somewhere. There were snitches in the Old Testament, there are snitches today. There's always somebody that while they bow and they looking around. You know, you got them in your family, you got them on your job.
Mm. And then they go run to the king. You know who didn't bow? Four of your top. Man.
Called him in. Called in Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I heard y'all didn't bow. That's right.
Well Okay, I'm gonna give you another chance. Clearly you you you forgot or something something Because normally I can count on y'all, but you forget. They said we are not slow to answer you. It's a priorities thing. We're not slow to answer you.
The God we serve. is able to deliver us. Out of your hands. But if not We still won't bow. Because we're children of God.
I know who I answer to, and it's not Nebuchadnezzar. You ought to know who you answered to. And it's not to anyone but God. At the end of the day, Lord, are you pleased with this? Whatever the it is.
in your life. And let me show you something from the word. Go to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 12. I want to show you especially about our pursuit of money because we're such a materialistic.
Society. Luke 12, beginning with verse 13.
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, Teacher Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Jesus replied, Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you? That's a family dispute. What you putting me up in it for? Then Jesus said to him, Watch out!
Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. There it is. What did Jesus say to everybody who was watching? Watch out, be on your guard against all kinds of greed. And then look at the principle he gives.
A man's life does not consist. in an abundance The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. Then he said, This is what I'll do.
I'll tear down my barns, build bigger ones. and there I will store my surplus grain. Then I'll say to myself, you have plenty. of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy.
Eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, You fool! You know when God calls you a fool? Dang, there's no doubt. You know, your boys can call you a fool when they cracking up.
When God calls you a fool, He's not laughing. You fool, this very night your life will be demanded from you. Then God says, then who will get? What you have prepared for yourself. This is how it will be, Jesus went on to say, with whoever stores up things for themselves, but is not rich toward God.
See that? You gotta come to grips with this. Jesus gave us that to say, do not go after stuff with lust. With intense and selfish desire. God wasn't against the grain.
He was against this man thinking the grain is all there is to it. Being rich toward God. is what is more important. Then you're style of living. And so you've got to make up in your mind: if I'm going to rob God in order to drive what I want to drive, am I prepared to meet God like that?
Where I was putting the money into what I wanted. Cash, cars, cribs is what people want now. But you got to decide: am I ready for judgment? Being rich toward God, which means doing everything the way God wants it done.
So that has to do with your material life. We have members who say, Pastor, just so you know, I'm putting the church in my, I'm doing my trust and my deed, my will and all that, and putting the church in it. That's a good thing. That's not just, they can get my applause. I say, oh, that's wonderful.
Praise God. Thank you. I appreciate it. But it's not for me. It's for the kingdom.
Greed, whether it's food, whether it is power, whether it is wealth, whatever it is, you've got to realize God is against greed. Selfish, intense. is what God is against. The only intensity that's legitimate. I intensely, Lord, want to do your will.
Oh, I intensely want to please you. I intensely want to hear you say, well done, good and faithful servant. You did it in secret. You didn't care who knew. But God saw it.
And he said, well done.
So we've got to get it right. God is not against stuff, not against food, not against power, not against wealth. He is against you having it with intense and selfish desire. And he said, this is not proper. For those of us who are people of light.
Whether it's money or talent or time, it's not how much you have, it's what you do with it. You know, Destined for Victory cannot exist without the faithful prayers and financial support of the listening friends and partners like you. You have been the lifeblood of this media ministry since its inception, and it's because of you that we can share the gospel of Jesus Christ with people all over the world. For your generous gift today, we've got a great thank you gift to share with you, one that will challenge you to persevere through life's challenges or maybe through a past you can't quite forget. Introducing our booklet, Keep Moving Forward.
Drawing from Israel's transition from Moses to Joshua, this book that will help you understand that God will go before you as your leader and your protector even when you're facing new challenges. This is a great resource for anyone who wants to be more fully equipped to move confidently into the future God has prepared. Again, that's keep moving forward, our thank you gift for your generous donation to Destined for Victory today. Give by phone by calling 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-5500.
or visit pastorpaul.net to make your donation online. You can also mail your gift to Destined for Victory, post office box seventeen sixty seven, Fremont, California, nine four five three eight. You can have the money, but you can't let the money have you.
So, don't climb the ladder of success only to find out it's leaned against the wrong building. Your priorities have to be to do the will of God. That's next time in Pastor Paul Shepard's message: Living as Children of Light. But until then, remember. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.
In Christ, you are destined for victory.
