Think about the pains you're suffering now or have experienced in your life. You didn't bring them on yourself, but somebody did you so wrong. Bunches of people did you wrong, whatever the case might be. And there you are, lonely and betrayed and rejected and miserable. But I came to tell you that while pain is mandatory, is inevitable, misery is optional.
Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. That's James chapter 1, verse 2, and this is destined for victory with Pastor Paul Shepard.
Well, it may not seem like your pain can lead to patience, but it can. James tells us that patience can lead you to be complete and lacking nothing. But for that to happen, you have to learn how to handle pain God's way so that your suffering can have its perfect result.
Now remember, if you can't stay with us today, you're always invited to visit pastorpaul.net where you can listen to your recent message on demand, including today's. That's pastorpaul.net. You can also subscribe to the podcast at Spotify or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.
Now, let's listen closer to Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message: three things to remember when life hurts. Don't let your circumstances define who you are. Just because you had a bad season, Naomi, don't rename yourself Mara. I'm still Naomi. That means pleasant.
That means gracious. When she went back to Bethlehem, you know the story. She got back to Bethlehem and they said, Is that Naomi? She said, Don't call me that. Call me Mara.
Mara means bitter. She tried to name herself after what she was going through. Don't let that happen, my friend. You are still Naomi. You're going through a bad season.
You can't figure it out. You don't like how it hurts in life right now. But do not rename yourself after what you're going through. Because what you're going through, you might not feel it now, but it is true. I'm sitting here with you at Starbucks to tell you, you don't feel, you don't see any light at the end of this tunnel.
All you are is in a dark place. But I'm here to let you know there is light, and God still knows who you are, and He says that who you are is not what you're going through. And so, you're going to have to hold up and be strong. In the midst of your pain.
So You need to make sure. Bet you don't sweat it. when you can't trace What's going on? Point number two. I need you to understand.
something. To take you to point number two, go with me to Psalm 23. And here's the case I want to make. When there aren't answers, there are God's promises. When there aren't answers, there are God's promises.
In Psalm twenty-three. We all know the first. Three verses and love them. Lord is my shepherd. Shall not want.
Makes me lie down in green pastures, leads me beside still waters, restores my soul, leads me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. That's wonderful.
So what up with the first part of verse four? Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of what? I was just in green pastures. Drinking still clear water. My soul being restored.
And I'm not sure. The valley. of the shadow of death. Ha ha! Get from the green pastures.
To the valley of the shadow of death. Here's the answer. Cause the shepherd led you there. We just quoted the first three verses, and it doesn't end by saying, Then the shepherd had to go do something, told y'all, just stay here. Shepherd's still with him?
And he leads them Through the valley Of the shadow of death. That's life. In life, you don't get to jump from one mountaintop. to another one. We would love that.
But sometimes the only way to get to your next mountaintop. You gotta go through a valley. Come on, bastard. I don't care how faith walking. You are.
That's life. I don't care how many promises you can quote, that's life. I don't care how straight living you are, that's life. I don't care. Nobody can spot my life.
I've been living right from since 1970. Good for you, and you're living right since the late seventies. That doesn't mean you can avoid Trouble all the time.
Sometime trouble gonna find you. In the green pasture. Drinking the good water.
Soul restored. Being led in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Then he said, Get up, come on, we're still traveling. And next thing you know, the shepherd. Has you walking through a valley Not any old valley, the valley of the shadow of death.
And then you go trying to trace.
Okay, now. What did I do? Going on fast, trying to get God to tell you something. He's not telling you anything because you didn't do anything. He led you.
And he's saying, I'm taking you somewhere, but the way we're going to get there is we got to go through this. I'm the straight-shooting pastor. I know I could pastor more excited folks if I told y'all a bunch of lies. I hear them being preached regularly on Christian TV. Just making people think everything's always going to be wonderful all the time.
Don't let somebody spend your time lying to you. I love you enough. I'm not going to lie to you.
Sometimes you're doing great. But you're going through the valley of the shadow of death. And no need of trying to trace it, no need of trying to pass, because all you're going to do is have to notch your belt at the next hole. 'Cause you're losing weight fasting all the time. But you don't have a new word.
I tell you, you've heard my stories. I know what that is. I told you one time I holed up in the hotel three days and three nights. That's a Bible time. God gonna come through.
It's gonna be thunder and lightning in this room. Earthquakes. I'm going to come out. When my wife picks me up, my face is going to be lit up like Moses coming off. Coming off of Mount Sinai, she gonna have to put a veil.
Yeah. Oh, honey! Can't look at all that glory. I came out looking just like I did three days before. Only difference was, I had lost a little bit because all I did was drink water for three days and three nights.
And I came out, I wasn't lit up, she looked right at me. Hey. And she said, so what God say?
So just go home. Worrying about what God said. Just go on somewhere. And I'm eating when I get there too. You ever thought you gonna meet God all you are is cranky?
You know, hangry is bad, hungry and angry. The shepherd's still with him. He the one took him down there. And I need you to understand that that is the second point. When there aren't answers, there are promises.
What do you mean by promises? Keep reading. It said, Although he led me down here, I won't fear evil. Why? Because thou art with me.
You're riding your staff. They comfort me. God promised, He didn't promise you weren't going to go through a valley. But he did promise, I'm gonna be with you. I hate where I am, but I love my company.
I don't like this valley, but I'm glad I'm down here with the shepherd. I'm glad that the shepherd has a rod and a staff. If anything comes at me trying to kill me, it's not going to get to me because my shepherd has me covered. Oh, the weapon will be formed against me. My enemies want to devour me, but they got to go through my shepherd to get to me.
So I'm down here. I don't like it, but I'm not fearing. Because he's with me. And his rod and his staff comfort me. Still ahead, the second half of today's Destined for Victory message featuring the teaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard.
We want to thank all of you for your prayers and financial support and to let you know they are having a profound impact in the world. As God leads, please consider making a generous gift to Destiny for Victory today. Donate today by calling 855-339-5500, or you can give securely online at our website, pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net. In this life, you'll always have problems, but you'll also have promises.
You'll hear more about that next in the rest of today's Destined for Victory message: Three Things to Remember When Life Hurts. You got to learn when you are going through a bad place, you have promises to hold on to.
Sometimes he lets you go through the fire, but he'll promise you, but it won't burn you. You're going through the deep waters, but they won't drown you. You're going through a tough place, but I'm going to bring you through that tough place. I'm going to make sure you come out on the other side. When you don't have answers, you do have promises.
And you're going to have to stand on the promises of God. One more thing, I'll let you go. The third point: your painful places aren't your ultimate destination. Your prepared place is. Your painful places aren't your ultimate destination, your prepared place is.
Pastor, what do you mean by that? Keep reading Psalm 23. After he said, Your rod and staff come from me, and you then he says, verse 5, and you prepare. A place before me. In the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over. But look at that. He said, You prepare a place. The psalmist is testifying to the goodness of his shepherd. And he said, I found out the good shepherd prepared a place for me.
The reason why he had to walk me through the valley of the shadow of death was because of what he was taking me to.
Some of y'all are focused on where you are now, what you're going through, and you need to focus on what you're going to. I'm going through the valley of the shadow of death, and I don't like it. Ah, but keep on going. I came to tell somebody: don't camp out in the valley, that's not your destination. Don't redefine yourself by your valley.
That's not your destination. Don't let the devil tell you this is going to be your reality for the rest of your life. That's not my destination. It's just part of the journey. There's a reason I had to go through this because of what God was taking me to.
Some of you are going through what you're going through because God knows what He's taking you to. And the go-through is the preparation for the go-to. And you don't like what you're going through, you don't have to like it. But when you get to where you're going. You'll find a prepared place.
God, I don't like my painful place. I know. But you got to go through your painful place to get to your prepared place. There is no way to get to the prepared place without first going through the painful place. You wish it was different, but I came to tell you it's not different.
I need Christians to understand again: a bunch of us have bought into candy store theology. We've listened to folk tell us lies and make us feel like it's always going to be wonderful. You've got to quit all this candy store theology. This is not heaven, this is earth. It will never be heaven, it will be earth.
There is a day coming when there'll be a new heaven and a new earth. That day is not now. This is the fallen one. We live in a fallen world. We live among fallen people.
They are all beholden to a fallen enemy named Satan. And in the midst of all that, we serve God, but God is letting us go through this valley right now. He's taken us to a wonderful place called heaven, but we're not there yet. And you need to stop listening to folk who are trying to tell you that if you walk by faith, you can have heaven on earth. No, you just need to serve God on earth.
Do his will right now. When circumstances are wonderful, know that you're not where you're going to. Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you. See, you got some prepared places here and now, but you also got the ultimate prepared place where he's taking us. Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there you'll be also.
This is not it, saints. Don't buy into that. You can have heaven on earth. No, all you can have is earth on earth. But you can have earth with the Savior.
You can have earth with the promises. You can have earth with the prepared place even here. Before you get to the ultimate one, there are things here God has prepared for you, and you'll get to them, but you got to go through your painful place.
So, when you're in the painful valley, stay focused on where he's taking you to. Follow him step by step. Don't let the devil tell you if the Lord loves you, then he wouldn't ever have you down here. He does love me, he's the one leading me, and he told me he's taking me somewhere, so I got to keep on walking. I came to tell somebody, keep on walking.
Don't camp out in the valley. That's not your destination. It's just part of the traffic, it's part of the journey. This is not heaven. You ever seen the movie came out in 1989?
I know it because it was the year I moved to California. Field of dreams. Have loved it all these years. Because I came to California because God had given me a dream. And it made no sense.
And when I saw that movie, I said, ooh, God speaking to me. Ha ha ha ha. But here's one of the things I love about it. When Ray had his encounter. Yeah.
with this ball player, Shoeless Joe Jackson. Had his encounter with a deceased ball player. who had reappeared. Because he had obeyed the voice that told him that he was supposed to build a baseball field where there had been a cornfield. Made no sense.
Neighbors laughing. Everybody think this man is crazy for real. But he did it when it made no sense. That's why it blessed me when I came out here. I said, I'm out here.
I left a wonderful church in Philadelphia, the era parent, and all that, and come out here to see 34 people. I felt like I was building a baseball field in the middle of a corn bed. Like, what in the world? He had his first encounter with shoeless Joe. And before it was over, Shulas Joe was going back to where he came from.
He turned around, looked at Ray and said, Is this heaven And Ray said, No, it's Iowa. I came to tell somebody: don't ever think this is going to be heaven. This is always going to be where you live. It's never gonna be heaven. But we're going to a place.
Where the wicked will cease from troubling, where the weary will be at rest. Every day is gonna be howdy, howdy. And never goodbye. See, y'all don't know those old saints. We're going there.
We're not there now, but even here on earth, there are going to be some prepared places for you. And what you gotta learn to do is stay walking. When he's taking you through his valley, keep on moving. Don't camp out. Don't build a house.
In the valley. When you're Naomi just getting back to Bethlehem, you don't see what God's doing, but He sees it. You trying to get them to rename you Bitter? No, no, you are pleasant. You are gracious, just like your name.
You got to keep moving through that. Before your daughter-in-law Ruth, who is not even your daughter-in-law anymore, because her husband is dead. She really should not be with you, but God told her to be with you.
Something in her, here she is, a Moab woman, and she's in Bethlehem with God's people, has no idea what God is doing, but the Lord told her: stick with this old lady. And she said, Well, we got to find. We don't have anything here. And so we got to find a, we got to find. But in the meantime, she said, we got to eat.
And Ruth went out in the field. To be able to glean behind some harvesters, had no idea. That the field that she went into by accident You got to understand, nothing just happens in the life of a person of destiny. The field she went into by accident. was owned by a man named Boaz.
Boaz pulled up one day and saw this woman gleaning. Pulled up in his Mercedes. Who's that young woman in the field? And the harvester said, oh, she came back to town. With Naomi.
Wonderful young woman, so polite.
So nice. She's kind, she's friendly. And he said, all right, nobody touch her. If anybody messes with her, I know she's a foreigner. I know, according to our cultural standards, you could mess with her and get away with it, but she's in my field.
Leave her alone. I write your check. Leave her alone, if yes, sir. God's got your back in ways you don't know.
Next thing you know, he calls her over. He builds a relationship with Ruth. Ruth goes home, tells Naomi about it, and Naomi said, Wait a minute, God might be up to something here. I came to tell you, you don't know what God is doing. You got to walk by faith and not by sight.
And God's going to take you out of your painful place into your prepared place. Thanks so much for being here with us for today's Destined for Victory message: three things to remember when life hurts. Always glad to have you with us.
Well, as you may know, Pastor Paul Shepherd devoted his life to reaching the lost with the gospel, and helping believers grow in their faith. But he never did it without help, because he knew he needed it we all do. Many times over the years, I had the chance to speak with Pastor Paul about the power of partnership. I asked him what he would say to you, our listening friends and partners, and here's what he had to say. I want them to know your partnership is very, very important and necessary.
When you think about it, Starting way back, I'm thinking about Moses. He could not have been Moses without the partners God gave him. God raised up Joshua. The Bible called Joshua Moses' minister before it called him God's minister. And Joshua was one of those key people.
Aaron, his brother, was one of his key partners. Every man or woman of God since then, all the way into, of course, when you get to the ministry of Jesus, Jesus himself required partnership. Isn't that amazing that the God man needed partners? He took Peter, James, and John farther into the garden of Gethsemane and he said, Just stay here and watch with me. And he cried and poured out his heart to get ready for that moment when he would lay down his life for us.
And he needed that partnership. He had Peter, James, and John. He also had Mary Martha and Lazarus. Then when you look at the apostles, there is no Paul. Without Timothy, without Silas, without Barnabas, and on and on.
All of us need partners.
So the bottom line is: I'm so grateful for every man, woman, boy, and girl who has become a partner for our ministry so you can keep on. Providing this platform so that we can reach even more people for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, Pastor Paul always made it clear that he wanted Destined for Victory to continue long after his preaching days were over.
So, today, your partnership with us is more important than it's ever been as we seek to build upon the strong legacy of faith he left behind. For as little as $20 a month, you can become a Destined for Victory partner today. And we want you to know that every penny of your donation will go towards advancing the gospel all over the world through our media ministry here at Destined for Victory. When you partner with us, we'll send you a few thank-you gifts, including one of our most popular CDs, the best of Let My People Smile. Call 855-339-5500 to find out more about how to become a Destined for Victory partner.
Make your pledge over the phone. Or mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California, 94538. You can also become our partner from our website, pastorpaul.net.
Now, if you can't become a partner but would like to send a generous gift to the ministry today, we'd love to send you our latest booklet, Improving Your Serve. For more information on this outstanding resource, please stop by pastorpaul.net. I want you to know that when the Bible talks about the will of God, it's making a distinction between those things that God allows and those things that God desires. God allows things that He doesn't desire, He allows things to happen that don't please Him. And that's tomorrow in our message, The Center of God's Will.
Until then, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.
