Unpacking Our Personal Baggage

Well, let me tell you something, all of us have some baggage. There isn't a baggage-free person listening to this message or preaching this message. We all have stuff, stuff, issues, debris that hasn't been fully removed, that hasn't been dealt with. We all carry around a little baggage from our past, but if God is your pilot, bags fly free. Hello and welcome to Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd.

All of us here hope you had a blessed and fulfilling Christmas weekend. Well, as Pastor Paul said just now, no one is completely baggage-free. Some have emotional wounds that have yet to heal. Others struggle with sin or addiction. But no matter what your baggage may be, it's never too heavy for God to carry, and he invites you to check it in. Today's message is straight ahead. Stay right here or visit pastorpaul.net to listen anytime on demand.

You can also download or listen to the podcast at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get yours. Now, here is Pastor Paul with today's Destined for Victory message, unpacking our personal baggage. We've called this series God is a Finisher because Paul said he began the work and he is going to carry it on to completion. You and I will not be incomplete projects, but thankfully, God says I'm going to finish what I started in your life. And we are excited about that. But we're unpacking that theme to look at what it really means.

Now, in the first two installments of the series, we've discussed that in a building project, it begins with a concept. And in our spiritual lives, God conceived what he wanted you and I to see. He wanted us to be people after his own heart who showed forth his glory.

And in that context, he conceived his will for our lives. Your life in the will of God is a God thing. The fact that you're saved is a God thing. The fact that you're listening to this message is a God thing.

God is up to something in your life and mind, the concept. Then we looked at the acquisition of property. If you're going to have a significant building project, you have to acquire the property necessary for it. And God has acquired us. We looked at the principle of redemption, that we're his first by creation but also by redemption.

And we unpacked that theme completely. Then in the last installment in the series, we began looking at the fact that when you're going to build a significant structure but currently there's already something there, you've got to have demolition and excavation. And some of us are experiencing that in some areas of our lives right now, the demolition and the excavation. What that simply means is you have to tear down and destroy what is before you can build what is to come. And so some of us are experiencing demolition in some areas of our lives where God is destroying things and ending unhealthy relationships and destroying old mindsets and not letting you think that you can stay in some of those old patterns. And there's demolition. Some of us go through seasons where you say, Lord, what in the world is going on in my life right now? Well, in all likelihood, it's demolition. God is tearing some things up because he's making the way for other things.

I want to pick it up there as we look at demolition and excavation, which is the digging up of rocks and hard things and removing the debris that demolition causes. And let's look at that in terms of baggage. You know, that's one of the terms that we often use as we talk about our human dynamics. We say, well, he or she has some baggage.

Well, let me tell you something. All of us have some baggage. There isn't a baggage-free person listening to this message or preaching this message. We all have stuff, stuff, issues, debris that hasn't been fully removed, that hasn't been dealt with. The results of demolition, the results of years of living outside of God's will, the stuff we came to Christ with, it is there.

Now, we are new creations in him, meaning he is bringing about some new things in our lives, but the process is going to involve us dealing with our baggage. Now, I brought with me just one of my sets of baggage. This isn't all the luggage I have, but this is one set that I bought. Now, imagine all of these pieces.

This is five pieces in a particular set. Imagine them full of stuff. I brought them empty because we needed to be able to carry them in and out quickly, but you know as well as I do, our bags aren't empty. Our bags are full of stuff, and the baggage of life is unlike the baggage of traveling. The baggage of traveling, you can just tip a baggage handler. They got you covered. If you ever been on a cruise, you get out your car at the cruise terminal, and the guys are right there. You just beckon them, and they'll get your stuff right from the car. If you let them put your tags on them, they'll help you put your tags on them and what have you. Now, they're looking for some money now.

I love to educate people who are under my ministry. I don't like cheap saints. Let's not be cheap saints. You want good service, give folks good tips. I don't like cheap folk. I don't eat at the restaurant with cheap people.

You have one shot. When I see you're cheap, you're not eating with me anymore. Not even, I don't play that, because you're going to mess up what comes to our table with your cheap self. I am known for being a good tipper. There's one restaurant they just about fight to get me. You had him last time.

I give good tips because I want good service. I don't want you too far off somewhere. I want you looking. Does he need anything else? Once you're right nearby, hey man, can you hook me up with that?

Whatever it is. But anyway, at the cruise terminal, you got to tip the people. Check it into a hotel. If you're going to let them handle your bags, you tip them.

Give them some good money, but you want good service. But in life, you can't tip and walk away. In life, we're all going to carry our bags. Now I got a set of six things here, and they are different types of pieces. In fact, let me just show you some of them.

This one can either fold up or can be used as a flight bag. So imagine this full of stuff, and then I got a big travel piece here. So okay, I got to go through life with this here.

I still got three more I got to work with. All right. So now I got this piece here. All right, now I got this here.

And my biggest bag is still sitting over there. All right, let me put this down. All right, now wait now.

All right, get this up. Praise the Lord. How you doing? I'm blessed. I'm blessed how y'all doing good. This is us. This is us singing and praising God and all that. Now imagine 24 seven with this.

You get my point? So God with stuff in it. Thank you.

These pieces are empty and I'm already sweating. Here's the good news. Christ came to not just save us and get us ready for heaven. He came because of all of this.

All of our stuff. Let me prove it to you from Scripture. Isaiah 61 verses one through three. The Spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called Oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

Isaiah prophesied hundreds of years before Jesus came to earth. You are listening to Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard, senior pastor of Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California. He'll be right back with the second half of today's message, so stay tuned. If you haven't already, be sure to download our free mobile app and listen to Destined for Victory wherever you go on demand. The app is easy to navigate. You can even take notes on Pastor Paul's messages, so they'll be there the next time you tune in.

Search Destined for Victory in the app store and download it today absolutely free. All of us have burdens that weigh us down. God invites you to bring it all to him and let him do the heavy lifting. Here's Pastor Paul once again with the rest of today's message, unpacking our personal baggage. Isaiah looked down the corridor of time through prophetic eyes that God had given him. He's called the eagle-eyed prophet. God gave him very exact information about what was to take place hundreds of years later. And when he looked down the corridor of time and saw Jesus, he spoke these words under inspiration that these words would apply to a savior that is still hundreds of years in the future. But he said when he comes, he is coming in order to preach good news, to bind up broken hearts, to proclaim freedom, to release prisoners from their darkness, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, the year of jubilee. He is going to bestow on them beauty instead of ashes and gladness instead of mourning and praise instead of despair. And he's going to make people who are broken and messed up and lies full of baggage, he's going to make them oaks, which is a strong tree, oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

That's Jesus' agenda. In fact, Jesus confirmed that that scripture was about him because if you remember in Luke chapter 4, after Jesus was tempted in the wilderness at 30 years old, remember, he didn't start his ministry until he was 30. God prepared him 30 years for a three-year earthly ministry.

It kicked off when he was 30. The first thing that happened after the Spirit of the Lord came upon him after he was baptized by John the Baptist was the Spirit drove him into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And he was successful in that so that he could be in all points tempted like us. Remember, Jesus knows all of your stuff because he was in all points tempted like we. It doesn't mean he was tempted with all things, but he was in all points tempted.

What does that mean? All sin, all baggage, all stuff falls into three categories mentioned in scripture. And those were the three points he was tempted of in the wilderness. The lust of the flesh, what you see that your flesh craves, the lust of the eyes, your desires, and the pride of life. John said in his first epistle, those things are not of the father, they're of the world.

Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life. He was tempted in all points so that he could relate to everything you and I experience because he knows what dealing with those points is like. Well after he was successful in the wilderness, the next thing that happens you see in Luke 4 is he goes to his hometown of Nazareth. On the Sabbath day he enters the synagogue and he has the opportunity to read the scripture. He grabs the scroll and of all the Old Testament scriptures he could have read, he goes to Isaiah, what we call Isaiah 61 verses one through three and reads those very words that you and I just read. Jesus read them 2,000 years ago in a synagogue. And when he got through, it's right in Luke chapter four, when he got through reading he sat down, closed the scroll, sat down and he said as everybody looked at him, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Today you are now experiencing what Isaiah talked about hundreds of years ago.

Cause I'm here and I'm getting ready to kick off my ministry and my whole ministry is going to be about those three verses. Jesus is into broken people. He is into dysfunctional people. He is into messed up people. He is into folks who have glaring needs. Guess who Jesus had his most difficult times with?

Folk who thought they didn't need any help. He looked at the Pharisees, the folk who were the most religious, who were the most law oriented and he said to them one day, y'all remind me of a graveyard. He said you look all organized and white stones.

Outside you look real ordered. He said but inside the tomb is dead man's bones. Jesus was interested in helping people who knew they needed help. And the promises of Isaiah 61 are if you need help, Jesus came to give you the help you need so that in the end you are a oak of righteousness. God wants us to live right. He wants us to get our lives ordered morally and in every way. That is absolutely his will. He will not accept anything less, but the process is you don't hide your baggage. The process is he says, bring all of this stuff to me cause I can bind up a broken heart that won't admit it's broken. I can't give joy to somebody who won't admit I'm in mourning and here's why. We have to come to him just as we are. Now let's look at unpacking our bags. First of all, there's lots of secrets in a lot of our lives, especially when you start fooling around in church.

The tendency is to hide the worst of us from the other folks. But the fact is Jesus established the church upon this rock. He said, I will build my church. Church really belongs to him. And if we ever give him back his church, we'll experience revival.

He said upon this rock, I'll build my church. The reason that most churches are dysfunctional, many churches are dysfunctional is because they belong to people and not to God. People have developed an organization based on their comfort rather than an organism, which is a living entity based on the life of God and the word of God. The church ought to be a place where you can't wait to show folks here's what's really going on in my life.

Cause it's the place that's safe. It's the place where folks say, bring that because we're going to pray with you. We're going to walk with you and we're going to help you get straight and become an oak of righteousness.

And they won't look down on you on your journey cause they're on their own. Now there are two wrong responses to sin. The reason why a lot of folks aren't comfortable with the sin that's in our baggage. There's more than sin in our baggage, but I want to start at the point of sin because as you live your life, you tend to do one of two things. You tend to either deny sin or if you acknowledge it, you cover it. The world denies sin. The reason why more folks aren't saved is because they're denying that they need to be saved. Now think about it. Everybody needs salvation.

Everybody does in a person on the planet. We're all born in sin, shape and iniquity. As we live our lives, we live our lives outside of God's will. It's the only way.

It's the default position. You start at a place of sin. That simply means I'm alienated from God. I don't have a personal relationship with him.

I don't necessarily have sensitivities to do his will. I just live my life. I'm very selfish and self oriented and sin manifest early on. You lied very early on before anybody taught you to lie.

It was just easy. Your parents said, did you eat the cookie? You knew you weren't supposed to eat the cookie, but you saw the cookie luster the eyes. I want the cookie. I'm eating the cookie.

I deal with the consequences along the way. Did you eat the cookie? Crumbs still on your face. You don't even know how to lie good, but it doesn't keep you from trying. I didn't even know we had cookies.

Crumbs right there. We lie early on, still early on. Do whatever is in our best interest early on and we develop a lifestyle. We pick various sins and vices and things and no need of pretending your sins are in a different category. All unrighteousness is sin. We love acting like there are sin misdemeanors and sin felonies. When you go to your Bible, it'll tell you all unrighteousness is sin.

If it's wrong, it's wrong. You don't have to do one of the top 10 horrible sins to be wrong. When I say something that's not true, I've sinned. In fact, the Bible said Revelation 22, there's a verse that says all liars will have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. It's not talking about people who did some of the top 10 most horrible things. Well, you know, it said that's for axe murderers.

No. If I say what's not true, if I take what's not mine, and sins are not only actions, sins are attitudes. Malice is sin. Backbiting is sin. Smiling in somebody's face and when they walk away saying hateful things, sin. Not an issue, sin. Malice, sin. Unforgiveness, sin. So the world tends to deny sin. You can't get saved from what doesn't exist in your mind.

You will never say, Lord, I need you as my savior if you don't believe you need to be saved. So the world denies sin. In fact, Africa is a really strange place. This country was founded on scriptural principles. The reason we are on this continent is because people wanted to get away from religion that forced them to be state oriented in Europe and they said we want the freedom to serve God without the dictates of human stuff being imposed on us. We want the freedom and so they built a country on the foundation of the word of God. Now we want to enjoy the freedoms but we want to deny the principles that they were built on. So now you got folk trying to take the 10 commandments off the walls of courtrooms and then they want to go in there and demand justice.

On what basis? Who said some things are just and some things are unjust if not God himself? If you take God away then who's to decide what's right and wrong? So you want judges to sit up and tell you something's right, something's wrong and not have a standard by which to judge because we want to deny God.

If we deny God we don't have to worry about what he calls sin. Do you have baggage today? Are you ready to bring it before the throne of grace? Remember his burden is light for those who allow him to carry it.

God cannot heal us until we admit we need healing. And if you need prayer today for baggage you can't quite unpack or for any reason our ministry team would be happy to join you in prayer. From the pastorpaul.net homepage click contact us and share what's on your heart. That's pastorpaul.net. While you're there be sure to ask for Pastor Paul's monthly letter of encouragement yours at no cost or obligation. We'll send it right to your inbox each month.

And here's something else for you. For your best year-end gift to Destin for Victory we'd like to send you Pastor Paul Shepherd's DVD message Refocus. In a year like 2020 with so much chaos and confusion it can be easy to lose sight of our primary mission.

We may begin to focus on social issues, political issues or the pandemic. Good things when done in moderation but our primary focus should be on worshiping God, enjoying the gift of his salvation and sharing that gift with others. In Refocus that's exactly what Pastor Paul encourages you to do offering you three practical steps for addressing the events of this year and moving ahead into 2021 with your faith intact knowing that God is moving you ever closer to your destiny in Christ. Again the DVD message is called Refocus and it's our gift to you by request for your best gift to Destin for Victory. So call us at 855-339-5500 to give over the phone or mail your gift to Destin for Victory post office box 1767 Fremont California 94538. You can also make a safe and secure donation from our website pastorpaul.net.

Thanks in advance for helping keep Destin for Victory on the air. Imagine you're on vacation at the beach and you want to dress for dinner. You cannot change unless you unpack your bags.

Here's Pastor Paul with a preview of tomorrow's message. Unpacked baggage only leaves us in bondage. You cannot adequately live life the way God has called you to live it without dealing with your stuff because our stuff we take it everywhere we go and all you do is just cover it up. Now how foolish would it be? I got all these pieces of luggage and I spend my time trying to make sure people don't see it. It's futile.

It's foolish. That's tomorrow in Pastor Paul Shepherd's message unpacking our personal baggage. Until then remember he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ you are Destined for Victory.