I want to expose the lie that the enemy is whispering in your ear, which says if you surrender your life to the Lord, you're going to be left with nothing. But the fact of the matter is when you surrender to the Lord, you open yourself to everything that God wants to do. Anything is possible with God. Nothing is possible without Him. Hello, and thanks for being with us for today's Destin for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepard.
The Christian life is a series of paradoxes. To find life, you've got to give it away. To hold on, you've got to let go. And here's one you'll want to keep in mind over the next 20 minutes or so: victory comes through surrender. every care, every worry, every relationship, including your marriage.
Give God full control and then watch as He blesses you beyond all you can ask or think. To hear any of our recent messages online, on demand, please come see us at pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net. You can also subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, at Spotify, or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.
Now, let's get going with today's Destined for Victory message. If it ain't broke, break it. Matthew chapter fourteen, beginning with verse thirteen. When Jesus heard what happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.
When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them. and healed their sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, This is a remote place. And it's already getting late. Send the crowds away.
so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food. Jesus replied, they do not need to go away. You give them something to eat. When we have here only five loaves of bread and two fish, they answered. Bring them here to me.
He said And he directed the people to sit down on the grass, taking the five loaves and the two fish. And looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied. And the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
The number of those who ate was about five thousand men. Besides women, and children. The subject of this current message is, if it ain't broke, Break it. We're looking at this passage in the life of Jesus And we've discovered so far that Jesus, having heard of the death of John the Baptist. Who died because he simply took a stand for truth.
And I talked about the fact that there are times when, no matter how diligent we are in Being kind and Non-abrasive in our sharing of truth, sometimes truth itself offends people. And Herod was offended, and the result is John. The Baptist lost his head. in testimony to his stand for truth. Jesus and his disciples, having heard about that, decided they wanted to Find a solitary place and just kind of hang out together.
But the Bible says as they got on their boat and traveled across the Sea of Galilee. The people followed them on foot. On land.
So, no doubt they either knew where they would land or they literally followed the boat as they looked out on the water and they walked the shoreline. When it was all said and done, as Jesus landed on shore at his destination, the people were there, a large crowd was there. And the Bible says Jesus had compassion on them. And I talked about the importance of compassion in our lives as we represent Christ in this world. Jesus is spoken of in a few places in the Bible as being full of compassion.
James chapter 5, verse 11 says he was full of compassion and mercy. And I asked the question, what are you full of? And some of us The answers are pretty challenging and tricky and ought to drive us to prayer. And make us say, Lord. Make me like you so that I'm full of compassion.
And then we looked at the fact that Jesus said, Well, as evening approached. Jesus said to one of the disciples, this passage has three other parallel versions in the other three Gospels. And looking at John's version, John said that Jesus wanted to feed the people. Who had come out, evening is approaching. He's interested in feeding them.
And so he tested their faith. And he said to one disciple, Now, What's it going to take to feed these folks? And that disciple said, Well, eight months' worth of salary wouldn't be enough to feed all of these people.
Someone else, another disciple, went through the crowd and said, well, let me at least take inventory and see what's available to us. And came back with the report, there is one lad who only has Some fish sandwiches. Five small barley loaves of bread and two fish. That's the making of fish sandwiches. And so I made the point in the earlier message.
That God wanted to show his disciples. That the issue is not what we have. but what we are willing to do with what we have. And Jesus didn't ask. The question to determine whether they had enough Because after all, they're talking to the one who stepped out in nothing and said, let there be.
And there was. God has no problem creating what He wants, but when He has touched our lives, He wants us to participate in the miracle of what He is continuing to do. And that participation requires, first of all, that we be willing to take what we have, however meager it is. And present it to him. And so when he got the report, there's a lad with.
Five small barley loaves of bread and two small fish, Jesus said in Matthew 14: okay, bring them to me. Bring them to me. It is not as important what you have, or what little you have, or how meagre it is, or how insignificant it is. What is important is that you are willing to present it Romans 12:1 says, I beseech you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, because God's been so merciful to you, and He now wants to do some extraordinary things, work miracles in and through your life, I beseech you that you present your bodies. As living sacrifices to him.
And I'm here to tell you, and I want to pick it up by letting you know that God is calling us to present. our lives to Him, to present our struggles to Him, to present our challenges to Him, to present our dreams to Him, to present whatever it is that is on our heart to Him, because if it stays in your hands, It will never fulfill God's purpose. If that little boy had held on to his Lunch! He could not have participated in the miracle of being significant outside of himself or pleasing God. But when he was willing to present it, now it's placed in the hands of someone who can do something significant.
Look at your life. There's some things you've been struggling with and fooling with for a long time. And I came to tell you, it's because it's still in your hands.
Some of you have been fooling with your marriage for a long time. Because it's still in your hands.
Some of you have been fooling with kids who are getting on your nerves. And you don't know what the solution is, but the problem is, you are parenting according to your own thoughts and feelings rather than putting them and putting yourself as a parent into the Lord's hands. And I'm here to tell you that miracles can't take place as long as you have possession and ownership. But when you dare release Things into the Lord's hands. Miracles can happen.
We got to become presenters. We got to become those who surrender that which we have into the hands of the Lord. And God uses this as a case study, as an illustration, as a lesson, not only for his immediate disciples in the first century, but for his disciples even now in the 21st century. And he is saying, What is it that you have that I want to work a miracle in and through, but I can't right now because you have not presented it? To me.
And I talked about the futility of trying to hold on. to things and missing the miracle because The miracle requires you to present.
Well, this boy was willing to give up His fish sandwiches to Jesus. And I want to know what are the fish sandwiches in your life? That God is after. And he's not after it because he wants to leave you with nothing. He's after it because when you present it to him, he can work a miracle that will not only bless others, but will turn around and bless you as well.
And I'm here to tell you that I want to expose the lie that the enemy is whispering in your ear, which says if you surrender your life to the Lord, you're going to be left with nothing. But the fact of the matter is when you surrender to the Lord, you open yourself to everything that God wants to do. And what does God want to do? He has come to give us life and that to the full. God has come to make your life better, not worse.
He has come to make your life richer, not poorer. He has come to make your life more fulfilled, not more empty and frustrated. And so we've got to be willing to present. to the Lord That which in our hands can never produce a miracle. Please don't go away.
The rest of today's Destined for Victory message, featuring Pastor Paul Shepard, is coming right up. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And that's why Destined for Victory is here, to share that truth with the world so that all who believe it can live the abundant, joyful, victorious life Jesus promises to give us. You can help by sending a generous gift today.
That gift will be especially appreciated during these summer months when giving to the ministry tends to decline. Visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. That's pastorpaul.net. Or call 855-339-5500. What are you holding on to today?
A pattern of sin? A wound from your past? Whatever it is, the Lord wants you to let it go and He'll help you let it go.
Now, with the rest of today's message, if it ain't broke, break it. Here once again is Pastor Paul Shepard.
Now, I want to look further at this passage with you and see that here is a boy who was willing to present it.
So, back to Matthew's account of the story, Matthew chapter 14. The Bible says Jesus said in verse 18, Bring them here to me. Bring the fish and the bread to me. That's what you got to do. Cast those cares on the Lord.
Give it over to God. You got to have a time of surrender. I'm glad I grew up in the old church where they put us on the altar and told us, don't get up until you said yes to God. Don't get up until God has what you've been struggling to hold on to. Don't get up until you've wrestled until God has won.
Oh, I grew up in the old church. The saints would tell you to pray through. They would tell you, you got to surrender it over to God. When you're crying, they said, That's good, and they'd hand you tissues. Because they knew sometimes, in order to surrender, you're going to have to have a crying session.
Sometimes it pains us to give it up to God. But whatever you got to do to say, Lord, not my will, but thine be done. That's what you got to do. Now, I want you to see what happens. What happens when you do that?
Jesus says, Bring it here to me. And then he directed the people to sit down on the grass, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven. Look at what he does. He gave thanks. and broke the loaves.
King James says he blessed Them. And then he broke. Them. When you give it to the Lord, God's going to do two things. He's going to bless what you give him.
But in order to work a miracle through it, the miracle doesn't end with just a blessing. The miracle requires a breaking. And if it's not broken, it is not yet prepared to participate in the miracle.
Now, the reason I got to preach this is because we are the bless me generation. We want to be blessed. Nothing wrong. We want to be blessed. That's cool.
God wants to bless us, so nothing wrong with your desire to be blessed. But we got the desire to be blessed down pat. We don't need any lessons. And how to desire blessings. We are the bless me generation.
We want to take God for everything He's got. And thankfully, the Bible is clear that the Lord has blessed us in heavenly places with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, which means God is anxious to bless his people. But you got to understand that God doesn't just want to bless you. God also says, I want to work a miracle in and through you. And in order to work a miracle, I can't just bless you.
I gotta also Break you.
Now we're the blessed me generation, but we're not thrilled about this breaking stuff. Bless me? Yes, Lord. I want to be blessed. I'm blessed.
Some of y'all answer the question: when somebody asks you, How are you doing? You haven't said fine in seven years. Because you heard a message or read a book or something like that, and you switched up. And now, when people ask you, How are you? You say, I'm blessed.
Cool, nothing wrong with it. God wants to bless you. In fact, some of y'all are sophisticated with it. You not even say you're blessed. I've heard people say, I'm blessed and highly favored.
You know, because they read that account of Mary and Elizabeth and all that. And so I'm blessed and highly favored. Good, cool. Glad you're blessed and highly favored, but if you want a miracle, And if you want to be part of a miracle, If you want to see God do miraculous things in your life, I'm here to tell you, you can't just be blessed. You got to also be willing to be broken.
And we like the blessing part. We're not so crazy about the breaking part. But the Bible says Jesus took what was presented. And he blessed it, gave thanks for it. And then he began.
to break.
Now, whatever you answered when I asked the question: what are your fish sandwiches? What's the fish and the loaf in your life? That when in your hands is very insignificant, but when in God's hands is going to become a miracle. Whatever those things are, whether it's your parenting or your marriage, whatever it is, your career aspirations or your ministry aspirations, whatever it is that is on your heart that you have great desire for, but you have very meager resources and limited ability about, here's what you got to do: you got to present it to God. I present myself as a living sacrifice.
which is my spiritual act of worship. And then watch this. Here's what God's going to do: He's going to bless it. And then he's gonna break it. The breaking in our life simply means that God is going to make sure to shake out of us.
Everything that is not in accord with his purpose. The breaking is God says, Yes, I want to bless your career, but I don't want to bless your career for your sake. I want to bless your career for my sake, so I got to break you from everything that you aspire to do that is not part of my plan. Because, contrary to what some folk believe, God does not exist. to co-sign your plans.
We got some folks, we got some believers, not you, but some believers I've met. Who are living life as though God's job is to co-sign my plans? God's job is to say yes to everything I want. But the reality is, our job is to say yes. to everything he wants.
That requires breaking. The breaking of my will. Don't you fool yourself. If Jesus had to go to the garden of Gethsemane and say to the Father, If it's possible, I don't want this cup I'm about to drink. Please, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me.
He was talking about the impending torture that he was about to experience and all that he was going to have to go through and then ultimately to go to the cross and die an excruciatingly painful and humiliating death. He said, Father, if there's any way for me to avoid this and be in your will, please let this cup pass from me. But he didn't stop praying there. He said, But nevertheless, Not my will. But thine be done.
I'm finding that there's a generation of believers that I'm being called to preach to. Who are good at knowing what their will is. But we gotta become better acquainted. With words like, nevertheless. God, if this isn't what you have for me.
I say yes, and I'm letting you break. My will so that yours can be done. And I'm believing God for a generation. Of people who will get better at surrender than they are at snatching blessings. We got to be a generation that's better at saying yes to God.
Than trying to get God to say yes to us. We gotta get better. I need some more singles. Who will get on the altar until you say, God, if this man or woman is not for me, I don't care how fine they are. God, he looks just like what I've been wanting.
Look at his shoulders, Jesus. Look at his arms. He got muscles. He's ripped Lord Just what I've been picturing. I know he's not saved.
Or if he's saved, he's barely saved. You say, what in the world does that mean? Ask a pastor, a pastor can tell you.
Some folk, yes, they ask Jesus into their life, but they are not walking the road of real discipleship. Because let me tell you something, praying a prayer doesn't make you a follower of Jesus Christ. You gotta have a heart that's been changed. You got to have a desire to grow. The Bible says, as newborn babes desire sincere milk of the word, it's like pulling teeth to get them to come to church.
Go to a Bible study, develop a prayer life, start reading that Bible to get in with some Christian people who they can have fellowship. When a person has no hunger for that, they might have claimed to have been born again, but you don't see the signs of discipleship. And I'm here to tell you, I've been manhandled about this too long. I've been passing a long time. I've had folk who think the goal is just to get somebody saved so I can marry them.
And I've had more women than I can think of over the years just drag something in here. And pester them and bother them till they come up, and then let somebody pray with them. And it's all right, he's saved now. We want premarital counseling. Burr, wrong answer.
Let's wait till he gets all the way in Christ. Bible said, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. I want to see him get in, all the way in, not barely on the edge, on the line, oh, just barely. I don't need some sideline running person. I want somebody down the center of the field.
God, I want everything that you want for me. And I'm believing God for a generation. A people who will get on the altar until God breaks them. Till they say, Yes, Lord, I really want to get married. But I refuse to dishonor what you're doing in my life.
By linking my life with somebody. who is not yielded to your perfect will. Do you want to experience the full measure of God's blessing and favor? Surrender your will, and Submit to God's, and you'll be well on your way to the victorious Christian life for which you've been destined. If you haven't already downloaded our free mobile app, now is a great time to do it.
Search Destined for Victory at the App Store and listen to these messages wherever you go. That's the Destined for Victory mobile app. Download it today, absolutely free. And let me ask you, have you ever tried to be a blessing to the people around you and had your best efforts go unnoticed? We find just that kind of story in the Gospel of Luke.
Martha is busy making preparations, but her sister Mary, rather than help, has chosen to spend time with Jesus. In our latest booklet, When Humans Attack, Pastor Paul takes an honest look at this story to show us how unchecked frustration can turn even our best intentions toxic. He also helps us see the contrast between distraction and devotion. Again, the booklet is called When Humans Attack, a gift we'd love to share with you this month as our thank you gift for your generous donation to the Destined for Victory media ministry. Give that gift by phone by calling 855-339-5500.
855-339-5500. Or visit Pastor Paul dot net to make a donation, or mail your gift to Destined for Victory. Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California, nine four five three eight. What's God saying? Give it to me.
Whatever it is. I'm called to tell you, release it. who surrender into the Lord's hands. Get into your garden of Gethsemane and say, Lord, here is what I want, but what I want doesn't matter. Not my will.
But yours be done. You'll hear that next time in our Destined for Victory message. If it ain't broke, break it. But until then remember. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.
In Christ, you are destined for victory.
