Hello, and thanks for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepard. It's always our pleasure to study God's Word together with you. You know, here at Destined for Victory we've always believed in the power of partnership. It's a core value put in place years ago by Pastor Paul Shepard, and I once spoke with him about not only about the power of partnership, but the benefits of partnership.
So before we kick off today's message, we want to share that brief conversation with you. I think that we do need to underscore That it is a win-win situation when a person is not only a faithful prayer warrior to undergird us with prayer, but when they are faithful in supporting our ministry financially, there is a real benefit to them. Because when you think about it, Jesus said in Matthew 6, don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth corrupts and things get eroded and all that. He says, you need to store up treasures in heaven. And if people say, well, how in the world do you do that while you're still living on earth?
The answer is you support things that make a difference not only for time, but for eternity. And ministries like ours are making that kind of difference. of difference.
So you get to directly benefit As a supporter, because Jesus is saying, in essence, you share in the victory, you share in the fruitfulness of the ministries you support. And I know that to be true. God has blessed me over the years because of faithful listeners who stand with us every month. I can count on the fact that part of what they do is they sow into this ministry so that we can continue to preach timeless truths in a timely way that's making a difference for people both in this life and preparing them for the life to come. And there is no Pastor Paul or any of the other ministers that God is using without those who faithfully support them.
To you, I say thank you so much. To others, I'm saying, please prayerfully consider becoming part of that support team.
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The address is Destined for Victory. Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California, 94538. You can also sign up by selecting Become a Partner at the top of the PastorPaul.net homepage. That's 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. You are so loved. For more information on this outstanding resource, please stop by pastorpaul.net. You can't disappoint God. Do you know that God being omniscient knew who you were before you knew who you were?
knew what you would do before you knew what you would do. And so you can't disappoint God because God knows you too well. It's true, you know, we can't disappoint God, but it's not for lack of trying. Even some of the greatest heroes of the faith, Abraham, Moses, King David, have made some serious mistakes. The list is endless, but so is God's mercy.
On today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepard, an important reminder that we can't hear often enough. Nothing can separate you from the love of God, not even your own mistakes.
Now, let's listen closely to Pastor Paul's message. Trust him.
Some of us have to go from trying to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders to going back to a childlike existence. In fact, one of the definitions of this word trust that you find in Proverbs 3 and 5, it's the Hebrew word batak, and it means bold confidence. It means careless reliance. One of the definitions is unsuspecting. I'm unsuspecting of God.
I don't doubt God. I don't question God. He's never given me any reason to not trust Him. I'm like a child. I'm unsuspecting of my Heavenly Father.
And some of us have to go back to a childlike state.
Now, as I wrapped up the first part, I said we got to be clear that childlike that Jesus talked about in Matthew 18, where he said, unless you become like a little child, you won't enter the kingdom of heaven. Childlike is different from childish. Childish, you don't want to be. Spoiler. Immature Those sorts of things.
Gotta have my way. If I can't have my way, I'm going to take my football and go home. Childish, that's not what Jesus was commending. He was commending the attributes of a trusting child who has no better sense than to rely on the people they depend on that everything's going to be all right. And I want to let you know, I've come to let somebody know, God wants you to know you can trust Him.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Now, we're currently making several points about trusting Him. Number one, trust Him with your failures. Trust Him with your failures. I want to finish that point and move on to number two. You got to learn to trust God with your failures.
Some of us have blown it, and the quicker we acknowledge it, the better off we'll be. We have blown it in some ways. We have disappointed ourselves. We have disappointed other people. Although, let me hasten to say, you didn't disappoint God because He knew you.
Whenever you're disappointed, please understand that's you. You can't disappoint God. To disappoint a person, they have to have a different set of expectations than you showed them. Do you know that God being omniscient knew who you were before you knew who you were? Knew what you would do before you knew what you would do.
And so you can't disappoint God because God knows you too well. And as I was explaining about Peter, Peter was bragging to Jesus, I'm going to stand with you if all the other disciples don't. And Jesus looked at him and said, Before tomorrow morning, you will have denied me three times. And when it came true, Peter felt like a total failure, but Jesus. Spoke up after his resurrection a few days later and said, Go tell my disciples and Peter.
to meet me in Galilee. And he called him by name just in case Peter. thought he was disqualified. I want to speak this word to some Peters. Who feels like you have blown it royally, you have messed things up in your life.
I want to let you know you haven't made and you're not capable of making the kind of mess that will frustrate God. You can get yourself in a mess, but God has the ability. to work all things together. For good. And so here's what I want you to lock in on.
As we said as we wrapped up part one, your failures, because of what Jesus did on Calvary, your failures are written in pencil. They're written in pencil. Don't you make the mistake of thinking your failures are written in permanent marker. God has a grace that will erase The negative impact. and get you from where you are.
To where you ought to be. This is a word for somebody. I want to let you know: don't put your failures up so high and magnify them so much until you think God Himself is looking at you saying, Oh, I don't believe this. You haven't frustrated God. God's not in heaven panicking because of how you've messed up.
God knows how to get you from where you are. To where you ought to be. Peter found that out. Abraham found that out. Abraham and Sarah, you heard me tell that story before of how they created an Ishmael when God promised them an Isaac.
See, they put their thumble full of brains in God's business. God said, I'm going to bless the world through your seed. Abraham said, okay, that must mean I got to have a baby, but I'm old here. I am in my 80s. My wife's in her 70s, and she's past childbearing, so it can't be her.
Now, if God had another woman in mind, God would have told Abram. He didn't tell him about another woman because Abram had one wife, that's all God needed. She was in her 70s, but so what? When God speaks, it is so.
Well, they didn't decide that that was the case. They decided they needed to help poor God out. And so they came up with the idea of making Hagar, one of the maidservants, a second wife for Abraham. Back in those days, God tolerated, though never endorsed, polygamy. I just want to let the brothers know those days are over.
Hallelujah, those days over. Don't go fantasizing, ooh, that must have been something living back in those days. May I give you a word on the side? This is a sidebar word. You don't need but one anyway.
You got your hands full with one anyway. Come on now, don't trip. Don't let your ego write a check that reality will not cast. You got, if you got one, you're good to go. And so I want to let you know that they came up with this plan to make Hagar a second wife, and sure enough, they came up with a child.
That woman got Abraham inspired. Y'all gotta read between the lines now. Got him inspired and that old man woke up And sure enough, came up with a baby. But it was not the child of promise. Not the child of promise.
He failed. And God Could have. If God was like us. God would have said, fine then. I'll just move on and find somebody else.
No, no, God doesn't do that. When He begins a good work in your life, What he'll do is when you fail the exam, he'll give you a makeup.
Now don't get too happy thinking, oh well I'll fail whenever I get good and ready. No. No, no, it's not that easy because remember, when you make an Ishmael, God will forgive you for it, but you still have to raise him. You don't want too many Ishmaels running around in your life. You got some Isaacs to focus on.
You've got some things God wants you to do. And you don't want to have a whole bunch of Ishmaels. Ismail, Ismela. Yeah. Yeah.
Are you hearing me? You don't want, don't fantasize about doing your thing and God just constantly going behind you, cleaning up your mess. It's not a pretty picture when we don't do the will of God. We can get ourselves into some awful predicaments. But my point is, God's grace.
Is able to supersede your failures.
So thirteen years later God said, All right, if you all are ready, it's time for the makeup. See, before they had to believe God for a baby when he was in his 80s and his wife was in his 70s.
Now they got to believe God for a baby and he's 99 and she's 89.
So it pays. The first exam is the best one to pass. Are we there? Is everybody there? Pass the first one by God's grace, by His help.
Lord, help me to pass the first one because the makeups get harder. But I want to let you know you can trust him with your failures. David found out you can trust him with your failures. In 2 Samuel, you find the story of David having an awful failure in chapter 11 with Bathsheba. But you also find over in chapter 12 that after he had this awful failure with Bathsheba, here's the king among God's people, God's anointed, but he has a royal failure.
He Gets this woman pregnant and then he has her husband who is at that moment of the conception. Her husband was on the battlefield fighting for David. And in desperation, failures can make you desperate sometimes. In desperation, he sent orders. By Uriah.
Have you ever read that? The man took his own death orders back to the battlefield. And he was so faithful, he didn't open them. When he got back, he handed them to someone else. He said, David, the king said, give this to you.
And when the man opened it, it said, put Uriah on the front line and withdraw from him. Let the enemy kill it. And the man was so faithful he took his own death sentence back to the battlefield. That's a miserable failure. For a man who was called God's anointed, who was called a man after God's own heart.
He failed miserably. And he's hoping he can just cover it up by quickly marrying the woman. Oh, but God sees. And over in 2 Samuel 12, God sends his prophet. Nathan.
Nathan goes, tells him a story. About someone being wrongly taken advantage of, David gets mad, said, Who is it? Bring him in here. The prophet looked at him and said, you're the man. And then pronounce God's judgment on him.
But here's what I've come to tell somebody: judgment. It's not a death sentence when you serve God. Judgment is discipline. Judgment is God wants you to know there are consequences for not doing His will. He's a loving parent whom the Lord loves, he disciplines.
But I've come to tell somebody who is under the hand of God's discipline, under the hand of God's judgment, that God is not finished with you. He is not pronouncing death on your life. He's disciplining you.
So when you get back up, you won't go back into the same mess again. And so the Lord sent Nathan with a word of discipline that there's going to be some consequences. There'll be all kinds of bloodshed under your reign. Your family, you're going to have all kinds of family trouble because you visited trouble on another man's family. And he pronounced all of the consequences.
But then he said, after David fell down and said, I have sinned. And that's what you have to do when you have a failure, acknowledge it. And after he did, then Nathan said, The Lord said to tell you, He's forgiven you. But the sun The Sun Is going to die. The child will not live.
And David fasted and prayed. Begged God, please don't take the child. But you read over in 2 Samuel 12, but the child died. And the people were worried as to what David's response was going to be. You remember that story?
And they stand over in the corner. Look at him. You need to go over there and tell him that his child's dead. I'm not going, you go over there. And then and David saw them huddled over.
On the side of the room, trying to figure out who was going to tell him. And he said Is the child okay? And somebody spoke up and said, I'm sorry, King, he's gone. And the Bible said, watch this, somebody. The Bible said the king got up.
He had been fasting and praying, begging God, hadn't washed himself, hadn't anointed himself with oil, looked a mess. The Bible says when he heard that, he got up. Went into his private chambers, washed himself, dressed himself, anointed himself with oil. Commanded for some food to be brought. It's time for me to break this fast and eat.
And I'm sure some of them said, nah, you gone crazy. And somebody said, well, why? Why the sudden change in your demeanor, King? And he said, I can't withstand the will of God. If God has taken this child, I must bow in submission to his will.
And there's no need of me staying in that old state of mind because it won't serve God's will now. He said, the child won't return to me, but one day I can go to him. And so let me get back down to the business of serving God. I got a word for somebody. It's time for you to get back down to the business of serving God.
Stop beating yourself up and stop letting other folk beat you up. It's time for you to do the will of God. Because your failure is written in pencil.
Now, may I warn you. People have a permanent marker. Not all of them, but some of them. There are some people in your life who have a permanent marker, and I've come to let you know before I get to my next points. I want to let you know, some folk have a permanent marker, and when you mess up, they will freeze your mess up in time.
They will take a picture of you at your lowest point, and they will take it to Kinko's and blow it up. There are some people who will never let you live down your trouble, your worst day. They remember what you look like, they remember what you had on. And there are some folk who will never let you live it down. They have a permanent marker, but here's the word: don't worry about the marker in their hand, because they're not writing the story of your life.
Oh, I want to let you know, God is the only one writing the story of your life. The folk can talk about you all they want. You know what God will do? He'll just let it be free publicity. That's all.
He'll turn it into free publicity. And he is working out his purpose in you. And although the failure wasn't his will, he will work it together. And if you'll stay with God, He's going to bring you out in a good place. And folk can talk about you all they want, it won't even matter.
I come to let you know it doesn't matter.
So you might as well practice that. See, some folk get so messed up when they first find out that some folk are trying to write them off.
So, Master, over the years, being a pastor, I've had folk come in my office crying. Oh, Pastor, I found out the folk talking about me. Oh, they're just wearing my name out, dragging my name through the mud. And they're so hurt because they found out for the first time people are talking about them. Over the years, I have handed them tissues and let them get it all out, cry.
And as soon as they dry up, I say, All right, now I have something to tell you. They were talking about you before you just found out about it. I want to let you know, they have said worse than you heard, they said. It's worse than that. And see, we need to understand that.
There are there are and this is leading me into my second point Which is not only trust God with your failures, but number two, trust him with your foes. Trust him with your foes, trust him with your enemies. Trust him with your detractors. Trust him with the people who are tap dancing on your nerves and glad to be. Trust them with people who have set their purpose in life as wanting to bring you down.
I know it hurts your feelings. I know it disappoints you. I know you wanted to have more confidence in people than that. But I got to tell you the truth: does some folk have it in for you? That's just the bottom line.
Some folk have it in for you. I've always said some folk have it in for you for a reason, for reasons they have come up with. Over the years, they don't like you. And if you ask them why, they could articulate why they don't like you. It hurts your feelings.
Who could not like you? I understand that. I know that hurts your feelings. But just swallow the pill real good. Let it get down in there.
There are people who don't like it. And if you give them half a chance, they will tell you exactly what about you they do not like. There's another crew of foes you have who don't like you, and they don't necessarily have a reason. They just looked at you one day and decided, you know what? I don't like him.
I don't like her. They just one day, you just hit them wrong. You just, it was your look or your shoes or something. I'm not sure what it was.
Something hit them wrong, and they just decided one day they don't like you, and they could just quickly tell the youth: see that lady right there? I do not like her.
Some folk don't like you. I know that hurts your feelings. I know that hurt your feelings, but I gotta tell you the truth. And then you have a set of foes who haven't entered your life yet, but they are somewhere in line. Waiting to enter your life.
You have foes you haven't met yet. They are somewhere in a line waiting to enter your life. They're standing in a line. One by one, they get into your life. The devil sends them in, or circumstances send them in.
God might even send some of them in to help get you to another place of faith and trust and deepen your relationship. I don't know who's getting them there, but they're coming one by one. And the others are in line. And then, when one comes in, they step up and see how soon it is before they come. There are some folk waiting to come into your life, and I want to tell you something.
You got to trust God with your foes. You got to trust God with the people. who are out to get you. Instead of hoping that you won't have enemies, Get the right attitude about your enemies. Because that's a futile desire for you to say, oh, God, just keep all the enemies away.
He's not going to do it. Read your Bible. Everybody who's ever used a God has detractors. You can't be used of God and not have detractors. You can't live a life that counts and not have people who are against you.
Just as sure as you set your heart and your mind to be something for God, to do His will, to glorify Him, you've got some enemies coming. Yeah. You know, even Jesus, the most perfect, loving, and merciful man who ever lived, had plenty of enemies, so we can expect to have them as well. In fact, if we have enemies because of our faith in Christ, we should consider it a compliment. To find out more about Destined for Victory's mission and purpose, or about the special gift reserved for you when you give generously today, please come see us at Pastor Paul.net.
That's Pastor Paul.net. When your enemies pick a fight, do you roll with the punches or throw a few of your own? Here's Pastor Paul. That's not God's agenda. And if you're going to trust Him with the people who have it in for you, if you're going to trust Him with the people who are out to destroy your life, I've come to tell you, you've got to let Him fight the battle.
That's tomorrow in our continuing message, Trust Him. But until then, remember. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.
