You are not who you act like.
Somebody ought to thank God for that. You are not who you act like.
You are not what's still wrong with you. You are not what your problems would suggest you are. You are not what your background dictates that you would be. You are not who some significant other in your life said you were. You are not anything other than what God said you are.
You'll never know who you are until you know who you are in Christ. Hello, and thanks for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepard. Today, we return to the story of Gideon, a young man who thought he knew who he was, until he found out who God said he was. Gideon had never fought in battle and yet God called him a mighty warrior anyway. And God has an identity for you as well, one that might just surprise you.
Online, you'll find us at pastorpaul.net, or you can listen to Destined for Victory on Demand. That's pastorpaul.net. Subscribe to our podcast at Spotify or wherever you enjoy podcasts.
Now, with today's Destined for Victory message, Dying to Enjoy Victory, here is Pastor Paul Shepard. John twelve, verses twenty-four through twenty-six. Jesus says, I tell you the truth: unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, It produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, my servant also will be. My father will honor the one who serves me. We conclude the series Entitled Dying to Live. We have established the principle that In order to enjoy true life in Christ, We must first die to self. We must get rid of Our own agenda for our lives that we might.
Experience what God has destined for us. And so it requires a real death of that self-will. It requires that we say, Lord, not my will, but thine be done. And we've looked at this principle in terms of how it applies in any number of ways to our lives. And currently, we are looking as our final case study And a man named Gideon.
His story is found beginning in Judges chapter 6. Judges chapter 6. Judges, the seventh book of your Bible. Judges chapter 6. You'll find there a man named Gideon.
Who lived in the time of the judges and during a time when Israel was doing evil in the sight of the Lord? We've established the fact that you can see here the pattern that there is often a direct correlation between people living in disobedience to the word of God and the oppression under which they live.
Now, to be sure, and we have made it clear that even those of us who are walking with God in obedience to his word can indeed experience oppression, but you are in a different position when you're living in obedience to God's word because then you can trust him and you can have confidence to know your trouble will not last. God will enable you to pass your test. He will enable you to arm yourself with the spiritual armor that produces victory in your life. Not so with the person who is in disobedience. When you are living and walking in disobedience, we've established the fact that your oppression Will not lift until you get in sync with God's plan and purpose.
And so Israel has gotten in sync. They've cried out to the Lord for help, you discover in verse 7 of Judges 6. And God sends them a prophet and now prepares to deliver them from their oppression.
Well, what does the angel of the Lord do? He shows up because God has chosen a person to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Midianites, and he chooses a guy named Gideon. This fella, if you're wondering whether God can use you, I want you to study Gideon. Because when you study Gideon's life, you will come away convinced. If God can use this dude, then he can certainly do something with my life.
Gideon, when the angel finds him, we saw that he was threshing wheat in a wine press because he was afraid of the Midianites. You don't even have to know about agriculture to know you don't thresh wheat in a wine press. But he was afraid of the Midianites. He didn't want to get beat up and get his wheat taken from him. And so there he is in the wine press, hoping he's not discovered.
And the angel showed up and said, God is with you, mighty warrior. God looks at a man who is acting like a major wimp. And God calls him a mighty warrior. And I want to let you know, as we established in the early part of the message, because when God looks at us, he doesn't call us according to our behavior, he calls us according to our purpose. God looks at you in the light of what he did for you in Christ.
He has begun a good work in you, and he said, I'm going to bring it to completion.
So when he looks at you, he doesn't look at your behavior, he doesn't look at your besetting sins and how you come short. He looks at his calling and purpose for your life, and he says, I'm going to get you where I said I was going to take you. And so he looks at Gideon and He says, You're a mighty warrior.
Now, the challenge is for Gideon to take on his true identity. And we are going to learn three lessons from his story here as we discover that you have to die to who you are in order to enjoy spiritual victory in your life. Victory is God's plan for you. For your life, don't even think about living in perpetual defeat because it is not God's will for his children. Jesus paid too high a price for us to live in defeat.
He means for us to enjoy victory. In fact, I said in the early part of the message that we ought to experience the thrill of victory rather than the agony of defeat.
Now, if you don't know about that term, it's because you're too young. But those of us who are about 40 and over, we know that term because we grew up watching a show on ABC before that was cable, before that was ESPN. We grew up watching a show on ABC that was called The Wide World of Sports. And when it came on, part of their opening monologue was the thrill of victory. And you'd see some victorious sporting moment, and it said, and the agony of defeat.
And you'd see some misery happening, some skier falling all over the snow, and what have you. And God's will is for you to enjoy the thrill of victory rather than the agony of defeat. But if you're going to enjoy it, the first thing you're going to have to do is to take on a victorious identity. You've got to know who you are in Christ. And God calls him a mighty warrior because that's who he is.
You are not who you act like.
Somebody ought to thank God for that. You are not who you act like.
You are not what's still wrong with you. You are not what your problems would suggest you are. You are not what your background dictates that you would be. You are not who some significant other in your life said you were. You are not anything other than what God said you are.
If somebody had walked out of your life saying you'll never be any good, that was their opinion, but it happens to be wrong because I'm a child of God. If somebody abandons you, said you're incorrigible, you can never be helped, say, Well, I appreciate your opinion, but I checked the book and you're wrong. Because God said, I am more than a conqueror. And no, I'm not acting like it yet, but if I get in sync with God's will, if I've learned to get my life in order according to the scriptures, I will experience everything He has for me. And I'm here to tell you that Gideon shows us that if you're going to go from wimp to warrior, if you're going to go from defeat to victory, you've got to first take on a victor's mentality.
And so he protested for a while, told God why he couldn't possibly be the one to lead them into victory, but that's exactly why God chose him. And we ended the message talking about how important it is for us to humble ourselves. In fact, God loves taking people who would be voted the least likely to succeed. And he says, all I need is your availability. See, a lot of us think God needs our ability.
He'll use your ability when you humble yourself before him, and he can pour his grace and power into it. But a whole lot of folk can't be used of God because they think too highly of their ability. When you read your Bible, you'll find that the people most greatly used of God were greatly used of him because of their availability. They said to God one day, All right, Lord, whatever you want to do is all right with me. And that's what God wants because he will get the glory through a vessel that knows if God doesn't help me, I'm in trouble.
And so Gideon thinks he's disqualified. But the truth is, his humility has qualified him immensely. And God now is ready to use him.
Now, I want you to look with me in Judges chapter 6. And I want you to see. That not only did he have to take on a victor's mentality, but number two, he had to tear down some idols. He had to tear down some idols. Beginning in verse 25, the Lord speaks to Gideon and says, Now I want you to take the second bull from your father's herd because it's time for you to tear down your father's altar to Baal, cut down the Asherah, and poll beside it.
In other words, we are now ready to bring Israel back into a place of victory, but God says, I will not do it until you have taken from your midst every false God. Every false God. God always said, I will do great things through my people once they realize that the Lord, He is God, and He's the only one. Don't go away, the rest of today's Destined for Victory message featuring Pastor Paul Shepard is coming right up. Today's teaching is part of our series, Dying to Live.
Look for it online at our website, pastorpaul.net. While you're there, be sure to check out our online store for some great resources, including books and video messages from Pastor Paul. Whether it's an individual or an entire nation, there cannot be spiritual victory until there has been genuine repentance. Let's listen to the second half of today's Destined for Victory message: Dying to Enjoy Victory. Once again, here's Pastor Paul Shepard.
I want to let you know you serve the one and only God. You serve the true and living God. You don't serve one who is among gods. The Bible is clear: we serve the God of the heavens and the earth, and he will have no other God compete with him. He is the God who created the heavens and the earth.
It wasn't a bunch of them, just one. When you find these religions saying, well, see, I believe in the best of all religions. People mean well, but they are sincerely mixed up, which is why we have to preach the truth of God's word in a day like this when America seems determined to become a non-Christian, non-Judeo-Christian society. We got to go back to preaching old-fashioned truth. The reality is, you used to not have to do this in America because it was a given.
Even folk who didn't believe in Jesus Christ, hadn't accepted Him as Savior, understood our Judeo-Christian roots and had a degree of respect and regard for it. But now we're at a place now where we're trying to get all kinds of ideas introduced and trying to find a way to blend them all together. And now you got judges in certain high courts that are saying you can't go to Congress and pray in the name of Jesus.
Well, I'm telling them now, until they get that straightened out, don't ask me to come. Because I don't pray to some generic God, somebody up there, whoever y'all want him to be. Just grab who you want, and that's who the prayer is to. No, no. If I show up, I'm saying, Father, in the name of Jesus.
Make me mad, I'll mess around and take a text on y'all. Yeah. And preach till they throw me out. I say, well, it's gonna take security a couple of minutes to get here. While I'm here, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
It's time for us to understand that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except by him. Happens not to be politically correct, but it happens to be Bible truth. And the fact of the matter is, without passing false judgment or being Pharisaical in some ridiculous way, it's time for us to take our stand for truth and to say our nation is in the mess it's in because just like Israel, we are now doing evil in the eyes of the Lord. And it is time to tear down some idols. It is time to say, no, this is not a nation that just happens to be together.
We are a nation under God. It was birthed out of the Judeo-Christian ethic. No, our founding fathers didn't have their act all together. No, they didn't all worship Jesus Christ and honor Him as Lord, but they understood the value of our Judeo-Christian roots. They understood that they were to honor God as deity, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And even though they didn't have it all right, I don't like it when folk deify them too much. They weren't all that now.
Some of my relatives were in their house being abused. I know they weren't all that.
So come on now, let's get it straight. We're not talking about the fourth, fifth, sixth members of the Godhead when you're talking about George Washington and them. But for sure, these were people who understood at least the ABCs of honoring the true and the living God. And we've got to get to a place where we know that when we are redefining everything and deciding that there is no arbitrary objective truth, it's because we have allowed ourselves to lose our way. The Bible was our owner's manual for living and it was honored as such.
And now we've thrown that out as irrelevant and we're surprised that we don't know which way is north. When you throw out a compass, you just pick north and put it anywhere you want it to go, but that doesn't make it north. If you say, I'm going in this direction and it's the right direction, well, how do you know? Because you lost your compass. And it's time for us to get our compass back.
And it's time for the church to stand up and to say, with love in our hearts, but yet with Holy Spirit boldness, we will not stand idly by while this nation does evil in the eyes of the Lord without us crying out against it. And to be sure, there are a lot of Christians who are so busy bashing darkness until they don't proclaim light. And I think that's completely inappropriate. The best thing to do when it's darkness is turn on the light. And the Bible says very clearly: we are the light of the world, we are the salt of the earth.
And that's why, if we will tear down our own idols as the church, then God will raise us up and position us to be able to speak to the nation. But the church, unfortunately, has been the laughingstock in too many cases of the nation. And they have seen our hypocrisy and they have seen us come short and they have seen us not be true to our God.
So it's time for us to begin with personal repentance and to say, Lord, make us the people you've called us to be.
So that when we call the nation to obedience, it's because we're setting an example ourselves. And let me tell you something, my friend. It's time for us to tear down our idols. And we can't tear them down in the nation until we tear them down in our own lives. And it's time for you to understand that you can have an idol in your life without really realizing it.
See, they had very obvious worship of Baal going on in Israel at this time. But the fact of the matter is, you can come to church every week and still have idols in your life. You can be a professed Christian and still have idols in your life. Because an idol is anything that competes with God's plan and purpose for your life. An idol is anything that you hold in such high regard until it is not submitted to the plan and purpose of God.
And given that definition, you can have relationships that you idolize. You can have material possessions that you idolize. You can have personal priorities that have become idols in your life. Anything that is not yielded to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is an idol. And so it is time for us really to look at our own lives first.
And to say, Lord, where are we coming short? Because here's the sobering reality. Here in Judges 6, you're not talking about idol worship among people who don't know Jehovah. You're talking about idol worship among Israel. And so, to put it in New Testament language, we're not talking about idol worship for folk who have never received Jesus.
We're talking about those who are in the church, those who have professed Christ as Savior, having things in our lives that we refuse to give over to God. And those things are idols. And God said: if you're going to enjoy spiritual victory, not only must you take on the victor's identity, but secondly, you've got to tear down your idols. What are the things in your life that you've not yielded completely to God? Who are the people that you want to have in your life so badly that despite what God's word has to say about it, you are maintaining a relationship that you know clearly is inappropriate according to the word of God?
My friend, that is an idol and it's got to come down. Don't make up your own definitions.
Well, I know we're not married in the technical sense, but you know, we just, we can't get married in the technical sense because if we do that, then see, there's a certain money that we get, but you have to be single to get it. And so God knows our hearts. And so since in our hearts we are joined together, that's kind of like marriage. No, that's shacking. Has not marriage that shocking?
and it's sin and God said get rid of it. Tear it down. Don't have a meeting about it. Negotiate about it. What do you think?
Well, what are we going to do with our finances? Get right with God and let God supply your needs. You can make an idol out of a relationship that you haven't even moved in yet. You can make an idol out of a boyfriend or girlfriend. You can make an idol out of somebody who holds too much influence over you.
If you've got somebody in your life who makes you feel they define you, they're the one. If it weren't for them, you wouldn't know what you would do. My friend, that's an idol. Because Jesus says, I'm the one who paid for your salvation. I proved my love for you.
I went all the way through 42 generations down to Calvary's cross. I came into this world through the womb of a virgin girl. And I spent over 30 years here on earth to show you how to live life. And ultimately, I went to a cross. Nobody took my life.
I laid it down because I loved you so much. And he said, So I've proven my love for you. This other person is just talking about loving you. Ooh, baby, I don't know what I would do without you. And you're running around all swooned and all.
And if he's happy with you, you're happy. And if he's upset with you, you're miserable, and all of that. My friend, that's an idol. And your life will never get on track, and you'll never experience spiritual victory until you call it what it is and bring it down. Idolatry can take on many forms.
It can be your job or your favorite hobby. It might be a relationship. Examine yourself to see if you have any gods before the God of the Bible, because the Lord won't lift you up until you lay your idols down. Today's message is part of our teaching series, Dying to Live. Look for it online at pastorpaul.net.
And while you're there, you can find information about how to download our free app, or you can subscribe to our podcast. The website again is pastorpaul.net.
Well, the Christian life is a victorious life, and it doesn't happen by accident. It's your birthright, already purchased by Jesus Christ. and yet so many believers live in defeat selling their birthright for things worth far less. In his booklet More Than Conquerors, Pastor Paul uses the unlikely story of Gideon to show us the path from defeat to victory. If you want to understand how to take on a victor's identity and tear down the idols competing for your heart, you'll want to reserve your copy of this outstanding resource today.
That's More Than Conquerors, yours this month for your generous donation to Destined for Victory. You can give by phone by calling 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-5500. Or visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. You can also mail your gift to Destined for Victory, post office box 1767, Fremont, California, 94538.
We've got to decide that if we're serious about enjoying victory, you must not only take on the identity of a victor, but you've got to tear down some idols. Your possessions can be an idol. Your house can be an idol if you love it too much. If it's too much in your heart, if you're too proud in some carnal way of the things you have, instead of yielding them to the plan and purpose of God. That's next time in our continuing message, Dying to Enjoy Victory.
But until then remember. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.
