What's God saying, give it to me? Whatever it is. I'm called to tell you, release it. through surrender into the Lord's hands. Get into your garden of Gethsemane and say, Lord, here's what I want, but what I want doesn't matter.
Not my will. But yours be done. God asked him to do the unthinkable, and he said yes without hesitation. Hello, and thanks for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory, where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard. For Abraham it was his son Isaac.
For you it may be something else. But make no mistake, if he has it already, God will one day ask you to make a sacrifice, and whatever it is, it won't be easy. Before we get started with today's message, let me remind you to visit pastorpaul.net. That's where you can hear any recent Destined for Victory message on demand, including today's, pastorpaul.net.
Now, let's listen closely to Pastor Paul's message. If it ain't broke, break it. Read your Bible. Abraham and Sarah, when they were Abram and Sarai, they tried to do that. The Bible says that they Had a promise from God.
God had clearly told Abram: if you get up and go where I tell you, I'm going to bless your seed. Going to bless the world through your seed. Your seed is going to be like the stars in the sky. He had a promise. But when it came time to believe God for the promise, he and his wife faltered.
And they had a meeting instead of just trusting God. What they should have done, they were already senior citizens. He's in his 80s, she's in her 70s. And it was already going to be a God thing, so what they should have done instead of talking is praying. They got together and had a meeting.
Instead of a prayer meeting, they had a talking meeting. Said, well, you know, Abram said, well, you know, baby, God said that, you know, He's going to bless my seed. I haven't had any children, so we got to have a child. What do you think about that?
So I said, well, I don't know why you're looking at me. You know I'm not having any children. Are you crazy, man? I'm in my seventies. If you were going to give me a child, you should have gave me one decades ago.
Wasn't my fault you don't have a child. You were the one that didn't produce anything. I've been here the whole time. This is my version of what may have happened. Yeah.
Yeah. Got to make it entertaining, keep you engaged in the word. Don't write me sin.
Now, what version was that that you were. And the Bible says. that they decided So I said, well now listen. Since God gave you the promise, He means for you to be a father. But since I'm in my 70s, I can't give you a child.
So, what I'll do, because I want to cooperate with you and God. What I'll do is give you Hagar. My maidservant. She's a young Egyptian sister. And I'll give her to you as a wife.
Now I submit to Sirai had great intentions. She desired To be blessed, like all of us want to be blessed. But she wasn't broken to realize That if God didn't bring up Hagar, that's because he didn't have Hagar in mind. God knows how to be plain. Same promise would have just had an additional sentence to it.
God would have said, and you are to marry Hagar. That my will may be fulfilled. When you didn't hear that, that's because that's not God's will. And they put their brains into God's business, and they came up with this move to make this child his wife. And It seemed to work.
Because they came up with a child. Abram got together with Hagar. And that young sister? Inspired that old man. That old man woke up temporarily?
Work with me now. We got a mixed audience, got children. Work with me. Try not to be more plain, so y'all act like you understand what I'm saying, so I don't have to get more plain. I would like to air this on the broadcast if y'all would work with me.
I don't need them all over the country. Pooh, punch that out, man. And that man woke up, had a temporary anointing. And they came up. With a child, Hagar popped up pregnant.
And they think they've done something. But the miracle of God can never be done. When we have not been broken to receive his will. And the fact that they refused to be broken from their belief that they were too old. Cause them, instead of producing the Son of Promise, they produce the Son of the flesh.
Ishmael was a child of the flesh. He was not the son that God promised Abram. And so the Lord waited years. You can fool around and try to get God to bless your mess if you want to. But all it's going to do is cause years of futility in your life.
And years later, God speaks up again. And says, Now, if you all are ready, I'm about to give you the makeup exam. Because that boy Right there. Ishmael is not the son I promised, and I cannot fulfill my plan through him. Because Abram's idea was, Lord, hey, he's here now.
Why don't you just transfer the blessing? God can't transfer his blessing onto your mess. You've got to be broken.
So that he can work a miracle. And so The Lord says, If you're all ready now, I want you and your wife. The only one I gave you. To go on and believe me. And they had to get on in those chambers and say, okay, Lord.
This is on you now. And they had to believe God. Then they experienced God's best. But then look at God. Whenever you think you have surrendered, you'll understand that that surrender was for that season of life.
But there's always going to be. As you work with God, deeper dimensions. Of having to say yes to God. The will of God is fluid. The will of God is not static in your life.
It is very transitional, and God will move you into a new season where you have to find a new altar and say yes to Him all over again. And years later, after they have finally gotten it right, and Isaac is here, he is the son of promise.
Now Abram's got a little issue because he's got two wives and two children. When God's will was one wife. and one child. And he's got two and two and God says, I can't work with that.
So all God did was let those two sisters Had their little run-ins. When you read Genesis 16, you see the first run in. That was when Hagar had a child and Sarai had no children. And so Hagar started acting a little uppity.
Now, she's the maidservant. This is her boss she's fooling with. And she started acting like, you know, how you've ever seen that stuff where that little caddy stuff starts happening between women, not you, sisters, but other women. And they ran into that little changes. Read about it in Genesis 16 when you get a chance.
And then over in Genesis 21, now Hagar has said yes to God. She's got her own child. And the Bible says when that child is being weaned, They're having a celebration because Isaac is being weaned. And Sarah looks over and sees Ishmael mocking her son. That's it.
She goes to Abraham and says, All right. I put up with this mess for years. And she acting like she had nothing to do with the original decision at this point. I put up with you, Hagar, and that boy for years. Sick of all y'all now.
It is time. For that woman to to go. She's not to be part of my household anymore. And Abraham said, but but baby. I understand you all have your little conflicts and stuff like that, and I understand why you wanted to go, but.
I'm sorry, but she is the mother of my child. Sarah said, Yes, and speaking of that boy. I want him out with her. I want both of them gone. And so Abraham is standing here.
He's got two wives and two children. God's will is one wife and one child. And his heart is attached. To Ishmael his son. His firstborn son.
And I'm sure to some extent his heart is attached to Hagar. And he goes to God and said, Lord, what in the world do I do? And God says, hearken to the voice. of your wife. Not just because she's right in this issue.
It was her household. She had the right to put them out in those days. These people were her servants, she could do with them as she pleased. But it's not just that God was saying she is right culturally. God was saying, What she is requiring of you.
Is my will because my will cannot be accomplished, and my miracle. Cannot be fulfilled as long as you have division, double vision. You got two Agendas and two children. You've got to get your life in line with my will. And God says, we got to get rid of them so I can get you to myself.
And he has to make the gut-wrenching decision. to put out Hagar and Ishmael. But I love God. When you surrender, God will work with you. The Lord said, I know how deeply they're in your heart.
I'm going to give you a promise. If you obey me and put them out, I'm going to take care of them. God said, I won't let them die out in the wilderness. In fact, he said, I'm going to make you a promise that not only will they survive, but I'm going to raise Ishmael up and make a nation out of him. I love how God can bless your mess once you surrender it.
into his hands. Don't go away, we have more of today's Destined for Victory message coming up next. But we want to take a moment to thank all of you who support Destined for Victory with your prayers and financial support. Gifts that help us keep this media ministry going through these summer months, especially this time of year when giving to the ministry tends to decline. To make a safe and secure donation at our website, visit pastor Paul dot net, or give us a call at eight five five three three nine five five zero zero.
That's eight five five three three nine fifty five hundred. You may have sung the words plenty of times: All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give. The question is, do you mean it?
Now, let's get you back to the rest of today's message. If it ain't broke, break it. I got a word for somebody who's got a mess you're trying to figure out what to do with. And I'm here to tell you: God is saying, give it to me. Do what I'm telling you to do and watch.
how I bring it to pass.
Now He surrendered and finally got rid of them. And then you think he's sitting pretty now. The next chapter over, Genesis 22. The Lord says now, there's another surrender. Take your son.
By this time, he only has one. Ishmael and Hagar are gone. Take your son, your only son, up on the mountain. And I want you to offer him as a sacrifice. Yeah.
Can you imagine getting that kind of word? Talk about being broken. You made me give up my two children and two wives.
Now I'm down to one child and one wife. And now you're telling me to surrender the one child I have. But he didn't understand until he was perfectly surrendered. The miracle God wanted to work through Isaac and later through Jacob and bringing Jesus Christ into the world could never happen. Until his surrender was full and his brokenness complete.
God had to ensure that he was broken.
So he tells Abraham. Take your son Isaac up on the mountain. And offer him as a sacrifice. You know the story. In Genesis 22.
The Bible is very clear that he got up early in the morning and took that boy out and didn't tell Sarah a thing.
Sometime, if you're going to be broken and surrender to the will of God, you better know who to talk to and who not to talk to. You would imagine if he tried to run that one past her? You can imagine what would have happened if he'd have let her catch him getting up and then said, Baby, where are you going? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh Ice knot going up on the mountain.
Uh I gotta kill him. Bang! My man snuck out early in the morning. Let Sarah sleep on. Don't need no breakfast, no grits, nothing.
I'm good, I'm good.
So he could do the will of God. And the Bible says he lifted his knife later on that mountain with the intent to kill his child. He didn't know why in the world would God. Why in the world would God require such a thing? He didn't know it.
Sometimes God causes you to surrender to his will when you've got a lot of unanswered questions. But God refuses to wait until you get satisfied with your answers. He just says, do what I told you to do. And it was only when he lifted his knife that the Lord spoke out of heaven and said, No, no, of course I don't want you to kill him. That's the son of promise.
What I want is for you to surrender him.
So that the rest of his life I can do to and through him anything I want. without objections from you. I'm here to tell you, God wants to bless you, but you can't just be blessed. You got to be broken.
Now, if you will be broken, what you're going to discover is what they discover in this. Passage in the life of Jesus. In Matthew 14, once he blessed the bread and the fish and began to break the bread and the fish, now it's in a place where God can begin to do what only God can do. The miracle begins to happen, and here's what happens: God takes the first loaf and breaks it, blesses it and breaks it. He takes the first little fish, blesses it and breaks it.
He hands it to someone, and they begin to feed. He takes this second part and blesses it and breaks it and gives that to someone. And then God has supernaturally taken what was broken and multiplied it in Christ's hand.
So he blesses that and breaks it. And as Jesus was breaking bread, the Father was making bread. And as Jesus was breaking fish, the Father was making fish. You say, How does God do it?
Well, how did God step out into nothing and say, Let there be, and there was? You can't figure out God. Don't limit God. We serve one who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think. How does God provide for you in economic tough times?
All you got to do is say yes, and you'll see Him do it. You'll see him do it. All you have to do is be broken and say, Yes, Lord, I'm going to do your will. Yes, I'm going to take these meager resources and I'm going to give my tithe and my offering, and I'm going to trust you that you're going to let me pay my bills. You don't say how do you figure it out?
How does it make this doesn't make sense? Whole lot of things in the will of God don't make sense to us. But all you have to do is say yes. Why does God tell you to love your enemies? That doesn't make sense to our minds.
But if you love them, God then will take that love as an offering of surrender, and He will begin to multiply His blessings into your life. And God will free you from some things that are binding you once you begin to do His will. I'm here to tell somebody that you've got dreams and aspirations, but God has a plan that He's waiting for you to surrender to. And once you surrender to God, you will experience things that you've never experienced before. I used to tell God, God, I want to be a regular Christian.
I don't want to be a preacher. I want to be regular. I want to be able to come home. Kids want to get married and have kids one day who know daddy's coming home. And I didn't think a pastor could do that because I saw my dad just always out ministering to people, and we never knew when he was coming home and what have you.
I said, I don't want to be like that, Lord. I want to love you, but I want to have another career. God said thanks for sharing. But you wouldn't be listening to this message today. God wouldn't be using this ministry to speak into your life today had I held on to my will.
But when I said, Lord, I'm willing to be broken, and although I don't understand how I can have the life I want and do your will, I'm just going to trust you.
Well, I came to find out once I surrendered to the Lord, the Lord later on showed me you don't have to have the same lifestyle that He had in order to do my will. In fact, the Lord showed me you can take care of your family. I call you to take care of your family before you do ministry.
So, you don't have to worry about it. I came to this church. When I first came to this little church, I said, I'm going to tell you all now, and it's going to be true the rest of my pastoral ministry. You will be third place in my life. They said, What?
What are you talking about? I said, my walk with God is going to be first, my family is going to be second.
So, y'all have a vested interest in making my wife happy because if she's not happy, y'all got a problem. And they cooperated and said, Pastor, that's cool, that sounds good to us. And we worked it out, and I found out I could be a pastor and still have a family life and what have you and do the will of God. God was able to answer the questions I couldn't answer, but I first had to say yes to Him. And somebody here is trying to hold on to your will.
Whether it's about your relationships, about your marriage, or parenting, or your career, or your ministry, or whatever it is that you are wrestling with God about. And this word comes to say: if you'll let God break you, While he's breaking, he'll be making some new miracles. In your life. And after a while, your life can become part of a miracle. This was the feeding.
Don't you believe these words when you see the headings in most of the Bibles? Jesus fed the 5,000. No, he didn't. It said 5,000. The text said 5,000 Besides women and children.
We all know that most men have a woman.
Some of them until they sanctified have several. I won't go deeper. And then most women And men together have children. This wasn't the feeding of 5,000. This was the feeding.
Of at least 10,000, very well, easily 15 or 20 was a possibility. Depending on how many women and children we're talking about. God did more than you could ask or think. And it was through the surrender of one insignificant boy. Who saw God do significant things through his surrender?
What's your fish sandwich? What's God saying? Give it to me. Whatever it is. I'm called to tell you, release it.
through 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.
Not my will, but thine be done. Learn to live life that way, and you'll be ready to move to the next level in your spiritual growth.
Well, our mission at Destined for Victory is to point people to the love of God and to the good news of His salvation. To do that we need your help, especially during the busy summer months when donations tend to take a dip. With that in mind, Pastor Paul's wife Meredith has a few words she'd like to share with you during this critical season in the life of this ministry. Hi. This is Meredith Shepherd.
Pastor Paul was my beloved husband. I want to take a moment to thank every person who has supported Destined for Victory through your prayers and financial gifts. Your generosity allows us to continue bringing the life changing message of Jesus Christ to listeners near and far. Many are encouraged, surprised. Strengthened and reminded of God's faithfulness because you chose to invest in this work.
We often hear from listeners who tell us that they heard Pastor Paul's message at just the right moment: a word of hope during a difficult season, a reminder of God's love when they felt alone, or a message that helped deepen their walk with Christ. Those moments are made possible through your partnership. As we look ahead, especially during these summer months, we invite you to continue standing with us. The need for the gospel has never diminished, and every gift, large or small, helps keep these broadcasts on the air and extends our reach to those who are searching for hope and truth. If this ministry has been a blessing to you, or if you believe in the importance of sharing God's word through Destin for Victory, I would be honored by your continued support.
Simply visit our donate page at pastorpaul.net/slash donate. Together, we can continue proclaiming the good news and touching lives for the glory of God. Thank you for your faithfulness, your generosity, and your commitment to advancing God's kingdom. I thank God for you and pray His richest blessings upon you and your family. Thank you, Meredith.
Now when you give generously today, we have a special gift to share with you as our way of saying thanks, introducing our latest booklet, When Humans Attack. You may remember the story of Mary and Martha from the Gospel of Luke. Martha is busy preparing a meal and doing household chores, and she grows frustrated because Mary, rather than helping her out, is sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to his teaching. Pastor Paul takes an honest look at the story in his booklet When Humans Attack, contrasting distraction and devotion and showing the value of pausing to be near Jesus. It also offers some biblical wisdom about how to handle unmet expectations and personal conflict.
That's when humans attack our thank you gift this month when you make a generous donation to Destin 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.
So when we talk about being disciples, Of Christ, what it really is supposed to mean is that we are literally followers. Of Christ. We are those who listen to what He teaches, but we're also those who watch the way He lives, and we are mimickers of Christ. That's next time in our continuing message: Neglected Areas of Discipleship. Until then, though, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.
In Christ, you are destined for victory.
