Purpose Prevails

Hello, and thanks for stopping by for this Friday edition of Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd, Senior Pastor at Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California. In just a few moments, he'll share his message, Purpose Prevails. But first, Pastor Paul joins me from his studio in California. Pastor, we're coming up on a presidential election. I know you're not going to tell us who to vote for, but would you share some words of wisdom for those listening about how we can prepare our hearts in advance of exercise?

Yeah, I'm happy to do that. I think the key truths to following Jesus are reminding ourselves that elections don't change what we're called to do and how we're called to live. Here's one of the things I think we need to keep in mind. You know, I grew up on the old hymns of the church. I grew up in a church where we sang gospel and had fun songs. We sang hymns and anthems a lot.

Right. And so, I love the hymn, and I'm thinking about it now. In answer to your question, my hope is built on nothing less but Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. And come January 20th of next year, whether you're happy about who's being sworn in that day or whether for you it's a day of sackcloth and ashes, fact of the matter is I think you need to make sure that your hope lies firmly and solely in Jesus Christ.

It can never be explained to Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith. Psalm 20 verse 7, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Thanks for those words of wisdom, Pastor Paul.

And I'm here to tell you that you're going to have to develop a new attitude about your detractors, about your enemies. You're going to have to understand that they work for God because you are called according to His purpose, and they work for God. God loves you so much, He will use any means necessary to help you fulfill your purpose, circumstances, family, friends, even your enemies. Today on Destined for Victory, Pastor Paul Shepherd talks about your purpose in Christ and the methods God will use to direct your path. When you begin to view your enemies as agents of God, knowing that He is in control of even those people who seek to do you harm, you'll gain a new perspective on the way God enables you to fulfill your high calling in Christ Jesus.

Now, here's Pastor Paul with today's Destined for Victory message, Purpose Prevails. Joseph in the Old Testament found out that his own brothers hated him. Own blood hated him. They hated him because there's always reasons and what have you, little dynamics, little undercurrents, but that's not the real deal. It's just the bottom line that God needed them to hate him enough to get him out of town. So he used family circumstances. The fact that Joseph's father, Jacob, loved his boy Joseph more than his other sons. Dysfunctional families are not new. Yours isn't the first. He loved his son Joseph more than the older boys.

And I mean, it was open and obvious. Joseph walked the other boys out in the field working. Joseph, younger than all of them, coming out there like a supervisor. Read it when you get a chance, Genesis 37.

He walking around as a supervisor inspecting network and going back reporting to dad what they're not out there doing. You know he was a supervisor, not a worker, because he's out there with a Versace robe on. Come on, read your Bible. Read your Bible. The Bible says he had a coat of many colors that his father had made custom made clothes.

How you get custom clothes don't have a job. He's out there acting like a supervisor over his older brothers and they hated his guts. Then God said, you know what, their hatred isn't deep enough, isn't strong enough.

I'm going to have to deepen it. So God gave the boy two dreams. Both dreams meant that one day he would be superior and his family would bow to him. And he was so innocent, so naive that he actually thought they would be happy for him. You have been that naive.

You ever been, you ever had the luxury of being stupid? And you thought if I share with people what's in my heart to do, they will be so happy for me. He wasn't bragging.

He's just stupid. When he said, you know what, I had a dream. Oh, y'all were bowing down to me. And the Bible said they hated him the more because of his dreams. So one day he came out there trying to be the supervisor. And they said, as they saw him coming, let's kill him.

Let's get rid of him once and for all. And then, you know, God's providence is so amazing. Your enemies are given divine limitations. Now, see, some of y'all don't know how to rejoice in that yet because you figure, well, what they've done so far has worked my last nerve. No, you need to understand they can only go so far.

If they could have that way, they'd have done much worse to you than they have done. But God sets the limitations. God has Joseph called according to his purpose. So God says this boy cannot lose his life, but I will let them throw him in a pit a while. So they threw him in a pit. Said we can't kill him. We can't shed innocent blood.

God put that on Ruben's heart. God's in control. Your enemies aren't in control. They got limitations. They got boundaries. They're like a dog on a chain tied to a tied around the base of a tree.

They can come running at you trying to bite you, but at a certain point, they stop. God has them. He won't let them get in him.

If I could just get over there with you. You got to understand God needed their hatred to accomplish his purpose. Why? Because they're all living in Canaan. God knows the end from the beginning. God says my will will not be accomplished in Canaan. My will for this generation of redemptive history must be accomplished in Egypt. So I got to get this spoiled brat of a boy that I have called according to my purpose to Egypt.

Normally the family won't go there. But when I get through, and you know the story, while they're figuring out what to do without killing them, here come some merchants down the road heading to Egypt. The boy said, let's make a little money. Sell him. He'll be a slave in another country. We'll never see him again.

And we have no change. 20 shekels of silver. They sell him. They don't know it, but all they did was arranged. They were travel agents.

All they did was arranged the trip to Egypt. Your enemies work for God. Not only do they work for God, but they work for you. Your enemies develop you in ways your friends can't develop you. Your enemies develop you in ways that all the Bible teaching you sit under cannot develop you.

There are some things that will only develop in you when you get certain buttons pushed that most folk in your life love you way too much to push. But God will work through enemies to get you developed. When Joseph was in Canaan, little teenage boy in Canaan, he was underdeveloped. He had no work ethic. He was spoiled rotten. He didn't understand how life really worked because everything was handed to him. But God said, I can't use him for my purpose like that, so I'm going to send him to Egypt. There he learned how to work because he had no other alternative.

He's a slave. There he had to earn his keep. There he had to let God develop him from the inside out. And I love the simple phrase that you see in Genesis 39.

It says, but the Lord was with Joseph. I don't care how underdeveloped some areas of your life and mine are if God be for us. He can make a lazy person learn how to work well. He can take a mean person and teach him how to be kind. He can take an impatient person and teach him how to put up with some things. He can take somebody who normally I don't have a whole lot of conversation with folk.

I just cut them loose and I'm done with them. And he'll teach you how to put up with people. He'll develop you. He'll make you the person he's called you to be. When you see Joseph later on, Joseph is he has a strong work ethic. He knows how to deal with people. He's a great effective leader even in jail. He leading people down in prison.

He's bilingual compliments of his enemies. I want to let you know, development and growth will occur when we get where God wants us to be. I want you to also stop fearing your enemies. Don't fear the people who hate you because they can do nothing except God ordains it. They are not to be feared, starting with the prince of your enemies. Satan himself is not to be feared. The Bible says we ought to be aware of his devices, but he is not to be feared.

And if Satan isn't to be feared, your human enemies certainly don't deserve the time and attention we tend to give them. We'll be right back with more of today's Destined for Victory message from Pastor Paul Shepard. Remember, you can always listen to this program on demand at pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net, where you'll find a host of great resources at our online store.

You can also download and subscribe to the podcast at Google Podcasts or wherever you get your programs. But for right now, let's get back to the rest of today's message. Purpose Prevails.

Here once again is Pastor Paul Shepard. If God be for us, who can be against us? It doesn't matter who's lined up on the other side, you're on God's team.

Do you know what that means? You ever played team sports? I grew up in the streets of Philadelphia playing in the playgrounds, playing basketball in the playground. And what you would do is you'd go to your neighborhood playground and you'd stand along the fence, other folk out there playing.

And so you'd stand along the fence and you'd get a team together. Want to run with me? Yeah, yeah. All right, you want to run with me?

All right, yeah, yeah. And once you got your team together, then you hollered, we got next. And you were informing the people who were playing, whoever loses in this game gets off the court, we come on the court to play the winner. And so you're standing there. And so you always wanted to show up at the playground at the right time with the right folks standing along the fence. Because if you had a bunch of scrubs standing along the fence, you knew you were going to be one and done.

Go get in there, get whipped and get out. So you hoped for, and sometimes the scrubs will stand there. You weren't playing, you said, no, no, I say I'm going to do something else. And what you're waiting for are the real ballplayers to show up. And you and you hope to pull together a reasonable team.

So I think we can take them. You pulled that team and you went on out. Well, Romans 8 31 says, it doesn't matter who's the winning team that's currently on the court. If God drives up, brings his gym bag out the car, comes along the fence, and looks at you says, one run. If God is for you.

And when God shows up, you say, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm on your team. If God is for us, I don't care who's out there. Kobe can be out there. Kevin Garnett can be out there.

You know, I'm saying all the best. It could be an NBA all star team out there, but once God shows up and once God says I got next, I'm just glad I'm on his team. I don't have to worry about Kobe and them. I can go out there and talk smack. Oh, y'all don't know nothing about talking smack. Y'all been saved a long time. We didn't just play ball. We talked about people's mama. You understand what I'm saying?

You got in their head. If God before us, you go out there and talk smack to Kobe. Why? Because my team's only going to run one play. We're going to get a ball to God and get out the way.

Only play we run. I'm not taking Kobe one on one. I'm going to give Kobe to God. Your enemies are nothing compared to the guy who is for you. In fact, your your haters are just elevators. You need to leave here knowing your haters are really just elevators. That's all they are was the elevator to take you to the next level. That's all my haters can do when they get through with what they got to do.

God's taken me to the next level of his purpose for my life. So next time your your your haters show up, just tell them floor to please. They say, what do you say? Oh, I'm sorry.

Did I say that out loud? I'm sorry. Next time you show up at job in your head, your hater shows up Tuesday after the after the holiday, just say floor to going up. God's taken you somewhere. And they're part of his process. When God got through using Joseph's haters, his own brother, then it gets to Egypt, has to get a new customized hater, Sister Potiphar.

When he doesn't do what she wants, she sends him to jail for a crime he didn't even commit. See, that's where some of us are. It's one of these two different things that happen. All things includes things where you just messed up. That's just all no need of trying to pretend like it was other folk.

It was just me. But what really messes up when we know we're wrong, we get to God, we get it straight and God says, I'm still get you where I'm going to take you. But you know where Christians usually mess up when we say no one can spot my life. I've been living holy for 37. Nobody can spot my life. My thought life is perfect. I don't even think evil. All right.

Besides out of touch. You're all right. What messes up when we can't trace?

How did I get here? When we're sitting in jail for a crime we didn't even commit. That's where Joseph is. But the Lord was with Joseph in prison. No need of Joseph sitting in prison stewing about what I'm going to do to Potiphar's wife when I get out of here. He's there for God's purpose. When God got through using his enemies, then he said, all right, I've used his enemies in the form of his brothers.

I've used sister Potiphar. Now I'm going to use somebody to disappoint him. So he brings the cup bearer in for that.

King's cup bearer comes to jail. You know the story. So I'm going to tell you all the interpretation of both your dreams.

Baker, are you sure you want to hear yours? Yeah, tell me too. In three days you're going to be dead. You need to send all the texts you need to send. Hit everybody up from your cell in the cell. Tell them you love them.

Tell them where the insurance papers are. You are out of here in three days. Cup bearer in three days, you'll get your job back. And when you do, remember me. Tell him about me. Tell him I didn't do anything wrong.

And get me out of here. Can you imagine Joseph thinking he going to get out? So in three days cup bearer gets back his job. He's back in the throne room with the king. Joseph's thinking he's up there telling him about me right now. They going to come get me in about an hour.

So Joseph's down there trying to make all the other prisoners stronger. All right, man, I'm getting ready to go. Y'all be strong, man. Don't let this get to you. Don't let it get you down. Don't let it get in your head.

You do this time. Don't let that time do you. Next day, wonder why the king taking so long. Next week, what in the world is going on?

King must be on a cruise. By the next month, some of us are slow, but eventually we figure it out. By the next month, Joseph's talking about, no, he didn't.

Forget me. Bible says he forgot all about him for two years, but he's called according to God's purpose. And by the time he's released, there's no bitterness in his heart. He's not going for the cup bearer's throat.

He's not gunning for Potiphar's wife. He is settled that it doesn't matter who has been against me. God is going to finish what he started in my life. Come on and give the Lord praise for that.

To be like Jesus, you need to find a few like minded people with whom you can share both your successes and your failures. Realness and rawness often pave the way for renewal. Well, at a time when there is so much pain and uncertainty in the world, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ remains a source of hope.

And now more than ever, many are searching for that hope. This is why your prayers and financial support of Destined for Victory is so critical. As our way of saying thanks for your generous donation today, 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 donation to Destined for Victory. So call 855-339-5500 to give over the phone, 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. If you're really a follower of Christ, then it's time for your faith to show up every day. It's time for it to show up in the way spiritual fruit is developed in your life. It's time for it to show up in the way you tap into God's power to get through what you have to go through. That's next time when Pastor Paul Shepherd shares his message, Prove It. Until then remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are Destined for Victory.