As sure as you set your heart to follow God, you are going to have some enemies.
Some folks are going to show up in your life who oppose you and oppose what God is doing in your life. Hello, and thanks for joining us for today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd. Always a pleasure to have you with us.
Well, for the past few days, we've been learning about the right way to handle two groups of people that sometimes come into our lives: deserters and disappointers. But there's a third group we have to learn to deal with: detractors. These are people who will oppose you, ridicule you, and try to undermine you when you commit yourself to following God. Before we get things going, let me remind you to visit our website, PastorPaul.net. Where you can listen to your recent "Destined for Victory" message on demand, including today's.
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Now, let's listen closely to Pastor Paul's message. I've got a new attitude. Romans chapter twelve, verses one and two. Paul says, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is." His good, pleasing, and perfect will. We've been seen from the pages of Scripture that God intends to make us new creations. In fact, He says very plainly, Paul does in Second Corinthians five seventeen. If anyone's in Christ, he or she is a new Creation, a new kind of person, and we've been looking in this series as how we become new experientially.
How that newness is to impact our everyday life, and we've been focused especially on being a new kind of person as we deal with challenged and broken relationships. How do you deal with the fact that not all of your relationships are everything you want them to be or expected? Them to be, how can God give us a new attitude with regard to our relationship?
So we've been looking at a case study in Second Timothy chapter four, and I want us to turn our attention there again as we pick up. With this theme from the words of the apostle Paul, who, when he was in jail, soon to be executed for his faith in Christ, he gave us some insight into what it looks like to be victorious in relationships, even when there are some challenges. There, go with me to Second Timothy chapter four, where we've already seen Paul discuss the fact that he had someone who. Deserted him, a young man who deserted him, named Demas. He said, "Demas, because he loved this present world, has deserted me." What do you do when people who you thought you could count on desert you?
We have looked at that. And then Paul went on to mention a couple of people, Titus and Crescens, who disappointed him because they were not available to be there with him in this hour of need. And challenge, and we have talked extensively about how do you deal with disappointers in the earlier service. We talked about the fact that disappointers are going to come into all of our lives. People who love you can and will disappoint you, and I talked extensively about how to handle that.
Whether it's in your marriage or in your circle of friends and those that you have pulled into your innermost circle to walk. With you, I need you to know that they are going to disappoint you. They don't want to. They love you, but every now and then, people who love you are going to let you down. And I talked about the importance of giving those people permission to be human and to understand that they will have a limited capacity to deal with you in your hour of need.
Now, as we continue to look at this passage, Paul talks about another category. He has talked about a deserter. He has talked about disappointers, and now I want you to see that he mentions a detractor, a detractor here in Second Timothy chapter four. Look at verses fourteen and fifteen, where Paul says, "Alexander, the metal worker, did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him." For what he has done, you too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message.
I want to help you understand. That God wants to give you a new attitude in your life and give you victory in your relationships when people desert you, when people disappoint you, and I want to let you know you are going to have another category of people that I call detractors. Detractors, in other words, people who are your enemies, people who oppose you and oppose what God is doing in your life. Paul said that I have this man. Named Alexander, who has opposed me, and in fact, he said he has done me a great deal of harm.
And I want to let you know: as you walk with God, you are going to run into some people who are full-fledged enemies of you and of what God is doing in your life. That might not be happy news for you to hear, but you need to hear it nonetheless. You will not escape this life without running into enemies. You are not going to get from Earth to Heaven without having to deal with detractors. Read your Bible.
Anybody who was ever used of God in redemptive history, anyone that God ever blessed in redemptive history, had detractors—people who were their enemies, people who opposed them and opposed what they stood for. I need you to understand something. When you have it. Enemies, because you are living with the Lord, it's a good sign that you are on the right road. Because people aren't going to mess with you much when you are running with them, doing nothing in particular, certainly not serving God, certainly not pleasing God.
You're not going to have as many enemies as when you decide. You know what? I'm going where God wants to take me. I'm going to let Him cause a difference to take place in my life. As sure as you set your heart to follow God, you are going to have some enemies.
Some folks are going to show up in your life who oppose you and oppose what God is doing in your life, and I want you to know as we look at Paul's example that we are to be aware of our enemies. Get used to the idea you have enemies. You're going to face them, and if you haven't faced them yet, keep on living. They are on their way. They are on their way.
They are coming into your life. They are somewhere in a line waiting to be dispatched into your life. And after a while, the next one gets to go. And here they show up. With their attitude and their opinions and their naysaying and their ridicule and their attempts to do you harm, it's going to happen.
Way back in the beginning of redemptive history, go all the way back to Genesis chapter four. Genesis, the book of beginnings, and in chapter four, you see the first detractor show up, and he is in the family of the man he hates. You have Abel offering to the Lord a sacrifice that pleases God, and you have his brother named Cain. Offering to the Lord a pitiful sacrifice that displeases God, and instead of Cain repenting before God and saying, "Lord, I'm so sorry, I displeased you, that I dishonored you by the way I sacrificed to you." Lord, please forgive me and give me an opportunity to make it right. Instead of doing that, he turns his hatred toward his brother.
Some people only hate you because you're doing. Right, you didn't have to do anything to them. Abel wasn't bothering his brother. He sacrifices to the Lord, but his brother, instead of repenting, acknowledging his need to be right, he turns his attitude toward his brother and he kills him. And let me tell you something: you're going to run into that attitude.
You're going to find some people who hate you just because you're doing right. You're going to find some people who hate you just because you've decided you are not going to be a caterpillar. You're going to be a butterfly, and as soon as you start flying, they're going to be some folk on the ground plotting to shoot you down out of the air. That's just the way it goes. It started way back in the book of Genesis.
Later on in Genesis, you see a man named Joseph. I preached about him many times. Young man in his own family, he found his detractor, just like Abel did. Listen, not everybody who is kin to you is really kin to you.
Some people who are in your bloodline aren't on the journey of letting God have His way in their lives, and sometimes your enemies can be of your own household. And so you got to learn that when you walk with the Lord, you have to stay strapped and ready to do spiritual warfare, because there are some people who hate you and hate what you stand for. Joseph's own brothers hated him because he was spoiled. First of all, now that was their daddy's fault. They had a dysfunctional family.
You know the story. The Bible says in Genesis thirty-seven, Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons.
Now you know that's messed up. When a parent loves one kid more than the other children, you might identify more on you know a personality basis, but you shouldn't love one child more than another one. If you have that kind of problem, you need to hit the altar. Let somebody pray for you, and let somebody talk to you, and get your mind renewed by the Word of God. Because all of your children deserve your utmost love and respect.
Jacob didn't understand it. He loved Joseph more than the other boys, and then Joseph had a dream from the Lord. In fact, he had two dreams where God was showing him, "I'm going to make you prominent, so prominent that even your family will bow to you one day." And Joseph, with his young self not understanding interpersonal dynamics and all that, he just went and told the family. What God was saying to him through this dream? Listen, be careful who you tell your dreams to.
Because not everybody can handle where God is taking you.
Some people can't be happy for you. The test of the folk that are truly kin to you, spiritually speaking and emotionally compatible with you, are people who not only mourn with you when you mourn, but who rejoice with you when you rejoice. I know the folk I can trust because when God blesses me, they're happy. Let's pause right there for a quick timeout, but don't go away just yet. The rest of today's "Destined for Victory" message with Pastor Paul Shepherd is coming right up.
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Now let's get you back to the second half of today's "Destined for Victory" message. I've got a new attitude. When God blesses me, and folks are rolling their eyes and sucking their teeth and saying, "Oh, he think he all that now." I know that's somebody I can't trust. If you can't rejoice with me when God is blessing me, I cannot really count on you to come through for me in my moments of need. And he told his dreams to the wrong folk, and the Bible says they hated him all the more.
Because of where God was taking him, some people hate you because they see your life going higher, going in a better direction than theirs, and rather than join you on the journey, they'd rather get mad at you. And that's what his brothers did. And you know the story: his brothers were going to throw him in a pit and leave him to die, but then they said no. We don't want his blood on our hands, so let's sell him as a slave. They saw some merchants coming down the road, and they pulled him out of the pit only to sell him as a slave.
Listen, you got to understand that there are some people in your life who want to get rid of you, who don't want your influence, and they will assassinate your character. They will run your name down. They will do whatever it takes. And you have to be prepared as a person who's determined to walk with God to deal redemptively and appropriately with your enemies, because they are throughout the pages of Scripture to give us some case studies. Look at Elijah, man of God, powerful prophet in the Old Testament.
The Lord used him in significant ways, but one day he called King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. On the fact that they had led Israel into idolatry, and the Lord judged Israel by sending a drought. And he said, "There'll be no rain or dew until I give the word, because God wants you to know that He is in charge." And you know the story that there was no rain or dew, and God judged Israel because of their idolatry.
Well, instead of getting right, they continued to hearken to these false prophets, and one day there was a showdown on Mount Carmel. You read about it in First Kings chapter eighteen, and you know the story how God used. Elijah and how he marvelously proved that he was the true and living God, and those false prophets were slain as God continued to judge idolatry.
Well, when you get over in the First Kings nineteen, instead of Ahab repenting and saying, "Lord, we're so sorry for our idolatry," he went home, told his wife Jezebel, who was really the king. You know, he thought he was the head, but she was the neck that turned the head. He went home and told Jezebel Elijah killed all your prophets, and she said, "Let me handle this." And she put out a contract on that man of God. She was so bad a sister that she told him she was going to have him killed. You know, normally if you're going to kill somebody.
You don't want to give them a heads up. This sister was so bad; she sent word. She said, "Tell Elijah that by this time tomorrow he'll be dead." That's a bad girl. And you got some Jezebels in your life who hate you and don't mind you knowing they hate you, who have it in for you and don't mind you knowing they have it in for you. And of course, in that moment of humanity, whenever I read First Kings nineteen, I'm always struck by the humanity even of a prophet, a man of God.
You got to understand, those of us who are used of God publicly, we still have to walk with God. We still have to adhere to His word. We're cut from the same fabric you're cut from. And here was a man mightily used of God. One day he's calling down fire from heaven, and God is showing up in a big and powerful way.
You'd have thought somebody with all that anointing, when he gets word that Jezebel's trying to kill him. You'd have thought that First Kings nineteen would say, "And when word came to Elijah that Jezebel was going to have him killed, Elijah, the man of God, said, 'Oh, please.'" That's what I would expect to read. I would expect to read Elijah said, "Tell Jezebel, talk to the hand." Tell Jezebel that I am no McCain, cause I am not feeling her. You know, something like that. But read First Kings nineteen, and here's what you'll see: Elijah got that word, and he ran for his life.
How you calling down fire one day, and scared a one woman the next day? But that's humanity for you. We've all had those inconsistencies in our approach to life. And it shows you that when you're doing the will of God, you're going to run into some enemies. I want to let you know, detractors are coming.
Face it, you're not going to escape Earth. You're not going to make it out of this life without people hating you. Take it as a sign. God must be up to something good in my life. If folk want to take time to hate me, if they want to go through all those changes to try to Come against me; it must mean that I'm headed somewhere good, and you just got to make up in your mind.
I am going to let the Lord renew my mind and give me victory in my life, despite my detractors. And I got a word for you that you need to be on guard for them.
Now look at what Paul said. Paul said he did me a great deal of harm. And the Lord is going to repay him for what he has done. Here's the first thing I want you to understand: when dealing with your detractors, do not take personal vengeance. Vengeance is the Lord's.
Paul said you need to have a renewed mind so that you don't sweat your detractors. You know why? Because no weapon formed against you is going to prosper.
Now you need to get that in your spirit. No weapon is going to prosper. Meaning, they can do you some harm. They can have some negative impact on you. They can slow down some things, as they did with Paul.
But they will not ultimately succeed in destroying you or what God is doing in your life. No weapon formed against you is going to prosper. Doesn't mean the weapon won't be formed. It doesn't mean the weapon won't be fired. It just means that it won't take you out.
I want somebody to know. God is saying to you through this message that I will not allow your enemies to write the last chapter of your life. I will not allow your enemies to dictate what happens to you. I want you to know I have begun a good work in you, and I am going to bring it to conclusion. In fact, when Paul writes about Alexander, he's sitting in jail, awaiting execution for being a servant of Christ.
And in fact, it was during this imprisonment that he was let out, and he was beheaded. Paul lost his head and went home to be with the Lord. But it was a moment of triumph, not a moment of defeat. When you leave here, it'll be on God's terms, not the devil's terms. It'll be when God says He is ready to take you from labor to reward.
And I want to let somebody know that you need to gird your loins and have faith in your heart and say, God, I'm going to believe you that my enemies will not get to write my story. And I want you to know that you have to have a redemptive attitude where your detractors are concerned.
Now, Paul says, "May the Lord repay him for what he has done." I want you to understand: your enemies are in trouble with your daddy. You have the ultimate father when you serve the Lord, and he says, "No, don't you take out vengeance. I'll deal with your enemies." And when they run into your daddy, they got problems on their hands. And you are free to just give your enemies to God. But notice what Paul said.
He said the man did me a great deal of harm. May the Lord reward him for what he's done. And then he tells his spiritual son Timothy. He says, "Now you need to be on your guard against him. You need to be on your guard." I like that Paul said that because sometimes in the church we practice foolish faith.
Sometimes we practice sloppy agape. We try to be so loving until we just walk right in to harm's way, and we just act like, "Well, you know, we just need to love people and all of that." When a person hates you, believe them. Don't put yourself in harm's way when you know you have enemies arrayed against you. Paul tells Timothy, "Be on your guard." I need to help you as a follower of Christ understand that you need to be on your guard against people who hate you. Just because God has promised that their weapons will not prosper doesn't mean you should walk out into harm's way.
Don't practice foolish faith. Jesus said, "The servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. Learn to expect opposition. Prepare yourself for it in advance, and then let God show you how to deal with your detractors with wisdom, with grace, and with mercy.
And let me ask you." Have you ever felt called to do something you didn't quite yet feel ready for? If so, we've got a great resource to help you navigate your way through what can often be a confusing time. Introducing our latest booklet called "Before Qualified." Inside these pages, you'll get an up-close and personal look at Gideon, a man called by God to be a mighty warrior long before he was brave enough to go into battle.
So, if you have been stalling on your calling until you feel qualified, this booklet will remind. You God may not always call the qualified, but He absolutely qualifies the called. That's called before qualified. Our thank you gift this month for your generous donation to the Destined for Victory Media Ministry. You can give by phone by calling eight five five three three nine five five zero zero.
That's eight five five three three nine fifty five hundred, or visit PastorPaul dot net to make a safe and secure donation online. You can also mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box seventeen sixty seven, Fremont, California nine four five three eight. That's what you need to do with your enemies. Don't let them stop you from doing what God's doing in your life. Don't let them discourage you with their words or their hateful actions, because God is up to something good in your life.
That's tomorrow in our continuing message. I've got a new attitude. Until then, remember, He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in Christ. You are destined for victory.
