Taking Away Our Excuses (cont'd)

They that wait upon the Lord are those who have finally come to figure out I can't make it without Him. That that's not just some little cute sounding statement.

That is the reality of my life. That I need Him desperately. That I need Him every day.

That I need Him every moment of every day. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles.

They shall walk and not faint. Hello and thanks for being here for this Monday edition of Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd. When we hear that familiar verse from Isaiah, we may think the word wait has everything to do with time, as if God is asking us to sit around idly until He acts before we move forward in faith. But today, Pastor Paul explains that the word wait in the original Hebrew text has nothing to do with time.

It's relational, not chronological. Stay right here or download the podcast on demand at pastorpaul.net, at Spotify, or wherever you go to get your podcasts. Now, here is Pastor Paul with today's Destined for Victory message, taking away our excuses.

The word kava means to be bound together, to be so interwoven until you can't distinguish the parts. They that wait upon the Lord are those who have finally come to figure out I can't make it without Him. That that's not just some little cute sounding Christian sounding statement, that is the reality of my life. That I need Him desperately, that I need Him every day, that I need Him every moment of every day, that I cannot get through a single day, and I certainly can't change my life unless I take my weakness and I give it to the God of strength until I take my incapabilities and give them to a God who can do exceeding abundantly above all that I can ask or imagine. It is when I recognize my weakness that I can bind myself to God so inextricably until you hardly can tell me apart from Him because I'm holding on to Him, I'm interwoven with Him, I need Him every day.

What's going to happen good in my life? God Himself is going to have to do it. And I've come to tell you that that is exactly the place God was bringing Gideon to and that is the place He wants to take you and I to. He wants to take us to a place where we recognize exactly what we cannot do. We recognize our weakness and our inability so that we can then tap into God and His strength. If you want to see a New Testament illustration of it, a gospel illustration of it, I suggest you go to John chapter 6. Don't turn there now, but note the passage and read it when you get a chance. In the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, the first 13 verses tell you the story of Jesus deciding that there was a great multitude that He wanted to feed and the Bible says that He decided He was always using life as a series of object lessons for His disciples.

And so He uses this occasion as a training occasion. And He leans over to one of the disciples and says to him, what would it take for us to feed all these people? And the text even gives us a commentary and it says, Jesus asked this question to test Him because He already knew what He was going to do. Do you know that God already knows what He's up to in your life, that He's not making this up, He's not writing the story as He goes?

He already knows what He's going to do in your life. And so when God asks you a question, it's not because He needs you to give Him the answer. So when Jesus said, what do you think? What would it take for us to feed all these people? So the disciple whom He asked said, well, you know, I mean, pulled out his calculator. So, you know, even eight months worth of salary, eight months worth of wages wouldn't feed all of these people.

Implication seems to be the disciple is saying, well, you know, these are so many people. That project would be so much, too much for us to handle, even if we had eight months worth of salary to go buy food with. So Jesus has said, go get some food. Let's feed these people. And what has come back is we can't do it.

We don't have enough money. Look at what God is setting up here. He's got people, disciples who are not much. He's given them a task that is too great. And He says, well, what do you have?

And what they come back with is not enough. They said, well, we found a little boy. And he's willing to offer his fish sandwiches. Now, I know you looked in John six and you said, I don't see fish sandwiches in there.

Look again. You will see that the boy had barley loaves. And fish. Where I grew up. And where you all grew up, don't even try it. That makes for fish sandwiches. They haven't been put together yet.

But that's just a formality. Because you all know we made it on many a sandwich. And your sandwich was made up of whatever it was you had at the time. Some of us had fish sandwiches. Some of us had wish sandwiches.

I wish I had something in here other than what's in here. But I'm going to make this work. And they said, we found a boy and he's willing to give up his fish sandwiches, his bread and his fish. So the disciples, not much, are given a task, too great, and what they have to work with is not enough. What do you do when you're not much and God's calling is too great and what you have to work with is not enough? You do what the disciples learned to do.

Give it to Jesus. They said, here it is. You said you want to feed them.

You told us to get what we could get. This is it. Pitiful, but this is it. Not enough, but this is it.

Nowhere near what we need, but this is it. And the lesson they learned that day and the lesson Gideon is in the process of learning and the lesson God wants you and me to learn is that it doesn't matter that you're not much. In fact, God called you cause you're not much. And it doesn't matter that the task is too great.

And it doesn't matter that what you have to work with is not enough. It is for all of those reasons that God has you where he has you. God has positioned you. God has put you in that corner. God has put you in a place where you can't be ingenious, where your ingenuity will not work here, where your know-how doesn't apply to this situation. God himself paints us into corners where we cannot do it.

And if you look at your life right now, you'll find some areas of your life where you are not much and the task is too great and what you have is not enough. And I came to tell you that's because God set you up. And he set you up so that you would learn, Lord, I want to make a presentation of my life and what little I have to offer to you. And I just want to be available. God's not looking for your ability in this time in your life.

He's looking for your availability. He's not interested in how great you are. He already knows how great you're not.

You got to understand that. You don't surprise God, which is why when you get in touch with your weakness, you're the last one in the relationship who's in touch with it. God was already in touch with your weakness.

In fact, he knew more about you before he called you than you've learned since he called you. And God puts us in a place where we're not much and the task is too great and what we have to work with is not enough. So that when he comes through, he gets all of the glory. We're coming right back with more of today's Destined for Victory message from Pastor Paul Shepherd, Senior Pastor at Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California. If you love listening to Pastor Paul here on Destined for Victory, you'll certainly enjoy watching his best video clips. Watch those by subscribing to Pastor Paul at his YouTube channel. Links to all of his social media can be found at our website, PastorPaul.net. Have you ever felt like you didn't have enough of something to accomplish God's will, enough strength, enough talent, enough resources?

Well, believe it or not, that's exactly where God wants you. Here's Pastor Paul with the rest of today's message, taking away our excuses. And so what did Jesus do with those disciples when they brought to him not enough? He took not enough and worked a miracle with it. He blessed it. And then he began breaking. He took some bread and he started breaking bread, and as he was breaking bread, God was supernaturally making bread. And then he would distribute what he made. And then he'd take something that was left in there and he started breaking that. And as he was breaking that, God was making more. And then he took it and distributed it. And he kept breaking bread and he kept making bread and he kept distributing bread. He took the fish and he was breaking fish and he was making fish and he was distributing fish.

Fish and you say that doesn't make sense. I don't see how that's possible Well, listen, this is not the time in your life when you need to start trying to figure a supernatural God out You will blow your circuits trying to figure out who God is He is able the Bible says to do exceeding abundantly above All that we can ask or imagine. Do you know what that means? That means he is three levels above your highest capabilities of your imagination Exceeding abundantly above My friend John Jenkins says it means that God says I can do beyond beyond I Can not only do beyond what you think I can do beyond what's beyond what you think God is able to do more Than you can possibly fathom and so you've got to learn that when I am the weakest That's when I really am the strongest if I learn to take my weakness and give it to a supernatural God So The disciples found themselves Here they are not much task too great What we started with is not enough But we gave it to a God who works miracles and Now we find ourselves feeding thousands of people And they fed them so much until there were leftovers everybody's full Plates baskets come back around.

I can't dig anymore And They took up baskets full of leftovers Started with not enough Ended up with too much How does that happen? God enters the equation and when God enters the equation of your life of your relationships of your finances of your life's priorities of your gifts and callings your vocation when God enters into your sins and your hang-ups and what you need to be delivered from Don't tell God what you have is not enough. He knows you're not enough You're not much and what you have is not enough and all he's waiting for you is for you to realize it and then bring It to him And when you give it to God you'll discover that God can take not enough and make too much out of it and he said my grace is sufficient for you Paul and he showed that illustration years earlier to his disciples and centuries before He's teaching that lesson to Gideon you said you're weak and you come from a long line of weak folk and I'm telling you that's exactly why I've called you Because I know that when I work in your life You will not rob me of my glory You will learn to be so hopelessly dependent upon me until you will always give me the praise for everything I do in your life and Then I love what happens after that. Let me just mention it and I'll be done after that Gideon says well Yeah, but I want to be sure I Love this guy There were times in my life when I was a little bit cynical about him I'd read somebody that said man He is so pitiful But I've lived long enough to get in touch with my Gideon stuff Have any of y'all lived long enough to find out how much like Gideon You really are Here he has had a full-blown Conversation with an angel and he says yeah But I don't know He said I need a sign And What we're gonna find out is missing the last sign he needed it's just the first of a few He said I need a sign Let me go get an offering.

I want to prepare an offering for you. You're here representing God, and I want to worship He says let me get an offering and then I'm gonna come back with my offering and I trust that as I offer this to you you will grant me a sign and And here's what I love The angel said all right I'll wait right here You need to understand something God is so in touch with who we are Until we don't offend him with how jacked up we are I Want somebody to understand that's good news That God is aware that you still need proof after you've had an encounter with a supernatural being and God doesn't get mad the angel notice what the angel does not say the angel doesn't I say now. I don't believe you Hey, I came down here from heaven when I left heaven I was up there talking to Gabriel in them I came down here on this assignment to fool with you talking to you and look at you Don't even know how to believe God He didn't fuss at him You got to understand if you have a voice a condemning voice. That's not God God came into the world through Christ not to condemn the world, but so that the world through him might be saved If you're being condemned, that's the voice of your adversary Now the voice of God will bring conviction. Oh God will bring conviction. He will bring discipline into your life but discipline is redemptive in nature God is trying to take you from where you are the way he wants you to be and God is not condemning us. It is for us that he came and So the angel says, okay, I'll stay here Get him runs gets his meat gets his stuff for its offering comes back And so the angels all right put the meat on that rock over there Put it on there pour the broth on it pour the broth and then the angel took a staff and touched it and fire came and Consumed the meat and in that same moment the text says and the angel disappeared How's that for a sign And Then look at the humanity of Gideon He's had a full-blown conversation with an angel But he wants a sign Goes gets his offering angel gives him the sign of consuming the sacrifice meaning that it was accepted by God and the angel disappears Then Gideon gets scared He's all man That really was angel I'm gonna die Right in your Bible firstly says I need proof He gets proof and he's scared of the proof If I saw an angel that means I'm not gonna be able to live and God had to speak out of heaven because angels gone now and God said don't be afraid Peace Be unto you I'm not doing this to trouble you I'm trying to bless you and I'm trying to use you don't get afraid cuz I am at work in your life and Gideon then built an altar and Called it Jehovah Shalom That means the Lord is my peace And I want to tell somebody God is saying to you you are in the most troubled time of your life Your life feels like you're going out of this world backwards sometimes You don't know whether you're coming or going you don't know what in the world you're going through or how you're gonna get through it But God says don't be afraid peace Be unto you.

I'm at work in your life To willing to do of my good pleasure and your weaknesses are crafted and custom designed to bring you to me in desperation and It is in that desperation That you're going to discover Exactly. How great is your God? Thanks for joining us for today's message taking away our excuses Before we wrap things up here and destined for victory pastor. Paul Shepherd has joined me from a studio in, California Pastor we know that many of our listeners have been adversely affected by the recent pandemic and our hearts do go out to those that Are hurting right now But we're also aware and very grateful for those that the Lord is uniquely blessed that might be able to step up right now and stand In the gap for those who can't give I think it's always been that way in the body of Christ when we read the book of Acts we find as early as Acts chapter 2 Right after the day of Pentecost as the church began to sort of organize itself into congregations in the various regions and one of the things we're told toward the end of Acts chapter 2 is Not only did they continue steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine in Breaking of bread and prayer and those sorts of things it says that they gave very generously and very liberally And then when you move over into Acts chapter 5 you find people giving so generously That Ananias and Sapphira wanted to be counted among the generous But they didn't have a heart for generosity and we all know what happened to them but the fact of the matter is God loves those of us who are willing to step up and Kind of fill in when people are suffering and unable to give as they would like to There are those of us God raises up in the body of Christ who have the resources and if you feel that Nudge if you feel the hand of God just moving you in the direction of Increasing your generosity it is almost certainly because he's using you to make up for people who want to give more But don't have the ability to give more and I'm trusting that that's the way God's going to use us here at destined for victory That our donors who already are faithful some will step up and give even more to help us Cover the deficit when some simply can't give during these times Thanks, pastor in the season of uncertainty more people are open to the gospel and friends your prayers and gifts help pastor Paul share the good news of Jesus Christ with the world. It's our way of saying thanks for your generous donation We'd like to send you a booklet called little is much when God is in it written by pastor Paul This is a great reminder that God can use you to impact those around you and he can do it despite what you lack That's little is much when God is in it our gift to you today by request for your generous gift to destined for victory Call eight five five three three nine five five zero zero or visit pastor Paul 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 945 38 again the address destined for victory box 1767 Fremont, California 945 38 I want to talk to you in this message about the importance and the necessity of identifying and destroying the idols in our lives the things that actually Prevent us from honoring God and giving place and deference to God and loving him and worshiping him and Serving him as we are called to do That's next time and pastor Paul Shepherd's message taking down our idols Until then remember he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in Christ You are destined for victory