The reality is, all of the people who are in the world are the same as the world. Unrighteousness is sin. Every shortcoming, every mistake, every slip-up, every misjudgment, whatever little nice term you want to put on it, it's keeping you out of the center of God's will. And so the Holy Spirit says, Until you're ready to renew your mind, the newness that I want to bring into your life. will never come.
God will use anything He can to conform you to the image of His Son. Your futility, your failures, your frustration. These are some of His greatest gifts. Hello, and welcome to another great day on Destined for Victory, where we feature the teaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard.
Well, you can't change your clothes until you take off the old ones, and today you'll be reminded that God will often have to expose you before He can change you. Stay with us now as we continue our teaching series, Embracing the New. Online, you'll find us at pastorpaul.net, where you can listen on demand to any of our recent messages and get details about how to listen on your favorite digital platform.
Now, let's get started with today's message: The Gift of Frustration. Here's Pastor Paul. Futility is the first. Strange agent God can use to get you there. The second one.
is failure. Not only futility, But failure. You're familiar with one of the greatest. failures listed in the New Testament. It was experienced by the same man I just talked about in Futility.
Same guy that Jesus met on the seashore and sent out after he had had a night of catching nothing. Years later, that same man, now an experienced follower of Christ. Is now at that critical point when Jesus is just minutes from being arrested, where he is going to be tortured and tormented all night long and in the morning hours, and eventually led to Galgothus Hill, where he would be crucified. But before Jesus was arrested, that night that he was betrayed, Jesus said to his disciples, All of you are going to fall away on account of me, he said, but after I am raised, I will appear to you again. Jesus told all of them, every one of you who have been walking with me these years, you are about to fall away.
Guess who speaks up? Same guy, Simon Peter, and he said, I don't know about some of them. You're probably right about some of them. I'm sure Peter's attitude was some of these people, I don't know why you picked them in the first place. But I can tell you one thing, and he said it, it's recorded in Matthew's Gospel chapter 26, right around verse 33.
He said, All of them might fall away. Yeah, they probably will. He said, But not me. I will never fall away. Fall away.
Jesus. I know you're probably right about them, but if all them go, you got one guy left. I'm going to be standing with you back to back. I'll fight off any enemy. I'll do whatever I have to do.
And that was Peter's real belief about himself. That's what set him up for his failure. You do know that you have set yourself up for failure when you are so full of yourself, so confident, so assured in your ability that the enemy knows this is the time to attack you because you're so confident. Shortly after that statement, I will never fall away, as they came to arrest Jesus, this same guy, Peter, grabs his sword and goes to swinging. And read it when you get a chance.
He actually cut off the ear. Of a gentleman who came for Jesus. He cut off his ear.
Now, let me tell y'all something. When you are swinging a sword and you end up cutting off the ear, do you know what that tells me? You weren't going for an ear, you meant for a head to roll, you meant to split a head. You were serious. Peter was ready to kill somebody.
But that self-confidence and that vigor and vitality was something that had to go before God could make him the apostle he was supposed to be.
So, although he thought, I will never fall away, I'm gonna fight for you till the end. When you read Luke's account, He said in Luke 22, Jesus said to him in verse 31, Simon, Simon, indeed, Satan has asked for you. That he may sift you as weight. Verse 32, but I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail. And when you have returned to me, there's the renewal, there's that mind change.
When you've returned to me, strengthen your brethren. What did he say? After he bragged to Jesus, I'm going to never leave you. Jesus said, What you don't know is. Satan has specifically asked for you.
He's got you in his crosshairs. He knows you fully yourself. He knows you think you are all that. When you look up that in the dictionary, he knows you think that's you grinning. I'm all that.
He says, but Satan has asked for you, and he wants to shake you up. Sift you as wheat. Jesus said, but here's the good news: I prayed for you. In fact, he used the plural. He said, so I pray for all of y'all, even the others that are going to fall away.
I prayed for you all. And what did he pray? He said, I prayed that your faith won't fail. Y'all are going to fall away, especially you, Peter. You're getting ready to deny me three times, publicly deny the Savior three times.
And he said, but the reality is, I prayed for y'all. And I prayed not that you wouldn't fail, but that your faith wouldn't fail. I need you to know sometimes when you fail. And God says good. But your faith Don't fail because he's got his hand on you, he's started a good work in you, and he's going to bring it to completion.
Came to tell somebody who is fresh off of a failure in your own life. Other people might not even know it. You still look the same, act the same. You still are, you know, your self, your public self. But failure doesn't happen in your persona.
Failure happens in your personhood. You failed inner. You failed in an inner way. You failed. There might be some other people who are familiar with it, but generally speaking, you have a pretty good reputation.
Peter said, I'm never going to leave you. And by the end of that night, he had publicly denied Jesus three times. Because God can use failure as an agent. To help you get to the place where your mind is ready to say, okay, I'm not going to put confidence in myself anymore, because that hasn't gotten me anywhere. I came to talk to some of you who don't even like thinking you have failed.
You're uncomfortable with the very fact that I'm using the term failure.
Well, I've had a slip-up.
Well, you know, I have some. I don't know about failure. I've had some shortcomings. I mean, everybody has shortcomings. You know, everybody makes mistakes.
Everybody can have a misjudgment here and there. That's part of your problem. You try to minimize your stuff. You want your stuff to not really be that bad. Because you're comparing yourself to folk who have done stuff that you say is much worse.
See, you think your problem is you've only committed misdemeanors, other folk have felonies. The reality is, all unrighteousness is sin. Every shortcoming, every mistake, every slip-up, every misjudgment, whatever little nice term you want to put on it, it's keeping you out of the center of God's will. And so the Holy Spirit says: until you're ready to renew your mind, the newness that I want to bring into your life will never come. Because you're too full of yourself.
You're minimizing the worst of you. And you need to have a renewed mind.
So God is after somebody's failures. Your failures, your shortcomings, your mistakes, your misjudgments, your slip-ups, whatever little term you want to use, God is saying, I'm using them. To bring you to where I need you to be. Look throughout redemptive history, he's done it the whole way. And God is really good at exposing you sometimes in order to change you.
See, if you think God wants to keep your reputation intact, you don't understand God. He's after you saying an unequivocal yes to Him, and He'll do whatever He has to do. And if that means embarrassing you, that's what He'll do. Because he loves you. Don't believe me, ask David.
David's one of the greatest kings in Israel's history. We all know that. But when he gets to the point Where he decides he wants Bathsheba for himself and sleeps with her, and she gets pregnant, and her husband is out fighting his war, the war that he wouldn't go to battle with them in. And he thinks, okay, I'm ingenious, so he gets word that she's pregnant. He's like, oh, okay, all right, tell you what, let me send her husband home on much needed RR and let him sleep with her.
And then he go back to the war. And later on, when he come home and she's pregnant, he thinks that's his baby. That's how some of y'all are, just ingenious. I got this fixed. I got it.
No, no, no problem.
Well, the soldier, Uriah, comes home, and you know the story. He's so dedicated as a soldier, he won't sleep with his wife. He said, It's just weekend R. I can't go in there and act like I'm a civilian, I'm a soldier. My boys are out there laying down their lives.
He won't sleep, and David gets worried. He won't sleep with her. They're all send some wine over there, send some wine over there. Send some wine to get his head buzzing. And he sips a little wine and oil, but he stays focused on his mission as a soldier.
He will not sleep with his wife. In desperation, David says, all right. I'm going to send him back with orders, sealed orders. He's such a dedicated soldier, he won't open the orders because they're not for him. Therefore his commander And the commander opens them and says, set Uriah out in the front of a hot battle and then pull everybody back.
What kind of Mm. Um move is that. Uh Oof, some almost came. Nope. Let's pause right there for a quick timeout, but don't go away.
The second half of today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepard is coming right up. Our mission in Destined for Victory is to preach timeless truth for a victorious life, and we can't do it without you, our listening friends and partners. You provide all of our financial support, and we're so grateful to you not only for your generosity, but for the positive, eternal impact it's having in the world. To make a generous donation today, please visit pastorpaul.net or call 855-339-5500. Ever made a mistake and tried to cover it up?
God is a way of bringing it out into the light.
Now let's get you back to the rest of today's Destined for Victory message: The Gift of Frustration.
So the bottom line in the Yeah. He killed the man. to protect himself. That's what God's after. You got to love God more than you love you.
You got to love God more than you love your reputation. You got to love God more than you love your image. And sometimes God has to bring you to the point of full embarrassment.
So that he can get you to where he wants you to be. You know that story. Can't walk you all the way through it. He ended up bringing the child here. David thinks he's gotten away with it.
Here comes a prophet named Nathan. And you know what happened.
So the bottom line is some of you Failure is in your life now. Maybe other people don't know it. Maybe they all still think you're doing good. And you like that because you like your your reputation. Aga says, I don't like your reputation.
I'm making you stronger, wiser, better. And sometimes, in order to get you there, I have to embarrass your behind. Amen.
So that's what he is doing in some of your lives. And you know the story? When David finally figured out that the story Nathan told was about him. His heart broke. That's why he's called both before and after his failure, man after God's own heart, because God looks on the heart.
And although he failed miserably, And his failure will never be minimized. It can be forgiven and he can be restored by a God who knows that a heart that can be broken is a heart he can use for his glory. And that's exactly what happened. Wait, I got one more thing. And then I'm done with this part of the series.
Not only can God use futility, not only can God use failure. Number three, God can and will use frustrating people. Who are the people on your nerves? Who are the people making you sick? Who are the people you can't hardly handle right now?
God Can use them. Who are the people who disappointed you just when you expected them to be better? Who are the people who let you down? Who are the people who didn't come through for you?
Some of us are so hard on folk who fail to come through for us. But God says, actually, I can use their failing to come through for you. The way they frustrate you, I can use that. to get you to a place where you're ready to have your mind renewed. When I say this, I'm thinking of people like John Mark.
John Mark Was a young man Who, in the days of the early missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul, John Mark was just a youngster who was learning to walk with the Lord, and so he had relationship with those disciples and what have you. And as a young mentee, he went out on a missionary journey, the first missionary journey that is spoken of in Acts chapter 15. He went out on that missionary journey with Paul and Barnabas. When you get a chance, read Acts 15, beginning at verse 36. Then, after some days, so the first journey was completed, after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.
So they're going now to check on the fruit of their Early ministry. Verse 37.
Now, Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark. Look at the next verse, verse 38. But Paul insisted. that they should not take him with them Because he had departed from. From them.
And pamphilia and had not gone with them to the work. John Mark forsook him in the middle of a missionary journey. He took off. It was getting a little hot out there. It was getting a little, you know, a dangerous feeling.
He's a mama's boy. He ready to go home with his mama. His mother hosted one of the churches in Jerusalem. And so he, like, look, I know where the saints are singing and shouting and eating. That's where I'm going.
My man took off, that young man took off, went back home. Paul is a guy who, like, look, you can do that to me one time. You're not going to get a chance to do that to me again.
Some of y'all are like that. I know you're holy, got your big Bible, but you're just like that. Paul said, He ain't going with me. He loved me the first time. I'm giving him a chance to do that again.
And look at the next verse. Verse 39 says the contention between Paul and Barnabas was so sharp that they departed from one another. Paul was thoroughly sick of John Mark. He was a frustrating person in his life.
Some of you have frustrating people in your life. People who have disappointed you, people who have not met your expectations. But I came to tell you as I wrap this part of the series up God is going to use even your frustrating people to teach you a couple of lessons. To number one, keep your faith and your eyes firmly fixed on the Lord. And he He's going to also teach you as you renew your mind to not have too high an expectation on people.
He's going to teach you when people frustrate you, if their hearts are open, just like David's failure led him to greater effectiveness. God will teach you the people who disappoint you, the people who frustrate you, sometimes that is what he can use to mold them. And then you've got to be their mentor and they've got to see you willing to trust them again. And that's something only a renewed mind can do.
So sometimes you've got to be open. to not writing off your disappointers right away.
Now, true. There are some disappoiners who are never gonna come around, and as soon as you see that they're not coming around and not planning to come around, you are free to go on and dismiss them. God bless you, love you, but I'm rolling. Absolutely, absolutely. That's true.
Some of you had a disappointment you were married to. Pastor just gonna shoot straight. You had a disappointment you were married to, and you were saying, Okay, Lord, what's happening here? Or if you're going to change his heart, whatever, if you're going to do a work, then you have to do it so thoroughly and make it so clear to me and counselors and all that that we all see that you've done a transforming work. Then, Lord, I'm open to you.
I'll follow you. That's right. But sometimes somebody has shown you who they are, not trying to change. And when people show you who they are and won't change and won't let God deal with them, you got to learn when people show you who they are, believe them. and leave them to themselves.
But there are other frustrating people Their failure, their disappointing you was just setting them up.
Now they'll learn from their disappointment. They'll learn to grow. They'll learn to trust. They'll learn to depend on you. They'll learn to follow.
Some folk nobody ever taught them how to follow. But as soon as they frustrate you, if you walk away from them, they won't have anybody new to follow. Oh, this is good You don't like it and you're mad. But you get over it. God is up to something.
And your mind has to be renewed so he can take you where you need to go, so that he can bring stronger, wiser, better into your life. And I bring up John Mark because years later, John Mark was a disappointer. And he couldn't go with Paul on the second missionary journey. Instead, he went with Barnabas, and they did two different versions of the second missionary journey. But pa Learned, don't write off people that God is still working with.
If God speaks, that changes everything.
Now, you're okay writing off people that God hasn't said anything and you don't see any signs of growth. You don't see any signs of change. But if God says I'm still at work, don't write them off. Just put them aside, let me work. Because if I bring the two of you back together and I show you evidence that their heart is changed, God says, I've got to have you with a renewed mind so you're ready to embrace them and walk with them again.
So I need you to know: God is at work in your life, both to willing to do of His good pleasure. You don't get to just write people off because they made you mad. Welcome to earth. A lot of folk are going to make you mad. Live long enough, you're going to make yourself mad.
So we got to learn, God is the one who begins the good work. And he is the one who is going to bring it to completion. What others might mean for evil, God always means for good. Thanks so much for being here with us for today's Destined for Victory message: The Gift of Frustration. You know the last thing Jesus told us to do was to make disciples of all nations?
So before we leave you to day I'd like to share a conversation I once had with Pastor Paul Shepard, one that will really help you understand what our mission here at Destined for Victory is all about, and what it will always be.
Well, you know, when I think of victorious, my mind goes back. I'm a kid growing up watching TV in the 60s, so my mind goes back to the wide world of sports. Oh, yeah. There was an announcer named James McKay, Jim McKay, something like that. He had this classic line where he talked about the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.
And I love just thinking about how thrilling it is to be victorious. I love in any game I'm playing, I want to be victorious. I tell people, I don't care whether it's monopoly or something really serious, I want to win. And in life, we can win in Christ, and that's what the Bible tells us, that we are victorious in him. And victorious means that we're following his lead, that we're letting the Holy Spirit take us where he wants us to go in life.
We're saved by his grace, and then we're simply following his direction. And of course, the word of God is so key. To following God's direction, because the Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway. And so those who tune in to broadcasts like Destined for Victory are really supposed to be receiving guidance so that we can walk in and live in victory. And that's what I pray is happening as people tune in day by day.
We say it every day, In Christ you are destined for victory. Our prayer is that you will live the victorious Christian life today and every day until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. To help you do that, we've got a great thank you gift to share with you, a great new booklet called Truth, Temper, and Treasure. You know, in Ephesians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul talks about our new life in Christ and what it should look like. In our outstanding resource, Pastor Paul does a deep dive into three key areas: telling the truth.
Controlling our temper, and honoring God with our tithes and offerings. I encourage you to get your copy today and see how the Lord wants to help you grow in these areas. That's Truth, Temper, and Treasure, our thank you gift this month when you make a 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 your donation online. You can also mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California, 94538. When you speak, Tell the truth. First thing Paul is challenging us to do. If we are going to walk in the holiness and righteousness that God has ordained for our lives.
We must decide that when we speak, We will tell The truth. That's tomorrow in our message, Developing an Honorable Lifestyle. Until then though remember. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.
