Developing a Lifestyle of Faith, Part 5 (cont'd)

Because the traits of the parents become the tendencies of the children, he's seen his daddy unquestionably follow God. And now here's his first chance to do it.

And what a first test. Son, God wants you to get on the altar. Hello and welcome to this Friday edition of Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd, Senior Pastor at Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California.

Thanks for spending part of your day with us. In our last broadcast, Pastor Paul told us how Abraham blessed the next generation by sharing his life story, not only with his son Isaac, but with others who were close to him. Today, Pastor Paul shares yet another way in which Abraham blessed the next generation.

It's a message about inconceivable sacrifice, unwavering faith, and about God's willingness to redeem our past mistakes. Stay with us here or visit pastorpaul.net to listen on demand anytime. That's pastorpaul.net.

You can also listen to or subscribe to the Destined for Victory podcast at Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. But right now let's join Pastor Paul for today's message, developing a lifestyle of faith. If you want to be blessed and if we want to bless the generation following, we have to lead them in an example of I haven't always gotten it right, but let me tell you what I learned about God who helped me go from wrong to right. And I'm not just talking about ungodly things, unfruitful things are part of your testimony too. See, not everything is sin or not sin. Sometimes it's not a matter of sin. It just doesn't make sense. The way a lot of families are in debt.

It just doesn't make sense. It's not that you're in sin going to hell. You just going to heaven broke, needlessly broke, stupidly broke. Keep on getting into debt and you finally see your way straight. Then you use those same old dysfunctional family patterns and go get yourself back in debt.

Not ungodly, but certainly unfruitful. And so if you're going to mentor the next generation in the things of God, God is concerned about our finances. The Bible talks a lot about our finances. More is mentioned about money in the New Testament than about heaven or hell combined. Because you get right with God, you get right with Christ, you walk with him, you're going to heaven. Question is you're going to go broke off or broke.

I'm sorry, wealthy or broke. And that depends on how much generational blessing has been passed on. And part of that blessing is teaching you and showing you what God wants you to do with your money. And so he blessed his son first by his testimony.

Isaac knew Abraham's story good and bad. You're blessed when you're able to observe people and you get to the place where you can honor their strength while acknowledging their weakness. See, some of you all, all you saw in your family was as soon as somebody does something dishonorable or shows their clay feet, shows their weakness, then you'll discard them and disrespect them. No, no, you'll never be blessed trying to wait till people are perfect before you give them honor.

Never, never, never. You have to learn how to see them for all that they are and to honor them for who God has made them to be. You have to be willing to be like Noah's sons who caught their daddy in a bad situation, drunken and naked. But because they didn't want to dishonor him, they were willing to go find something to cover him. And they didn't look at him while they're coming saying, Lord have mercy. Look at daddy trying to tell me something.

Look at this. They so knew that this is a man God wants us to honor that they grabbed the blanket and they walked backward as they covered him so that they didn't have to look upon his nakedness. See, some of you all, the dysfunction of your family never taught you anything like that. You all talk about one another and run one another down and call each other all kinds of names and daddy wasn't no good and mama wasn't no good and grandpappy wasn't no good.

No, no. God said honor them. And sometimes you got to walk backwards and cover it up. But this man gave his kids the gift of transparency. It's a gift you have to give the family. If you're walking in the blessings of the Lord, you have to give those you influence the blessing of seeing you for who you are and have been and how God has brought you and God has matured you. They obviously knew their daddy was blessed. You just saw Genesis 24 one, the man was blessed by God himself. If anybody's supposed to be done with Abraham is God. I've learned to never be done with somebody God's not done with. Because I can learn more from them than I can from a bunch of hypocrites and Christian Pharisees who are pretending like they've never been unfruitful or ungodly.

And we all know they've been both. This is the gift of his testimony. Number two, not only by disclosing his testimony, but he blessed the next generation by number two demonstrating his faith. He demonstrated his faith.

What do I mean by that? Isaac got the chance to see God bless him as his daddy Abraham walked by faith. Isaac was there when God showed himself to be Jehovah Jireh. You remember Genesis 22? When God waited until Isaac is growing up, Ishmael and Hagar have long been cast out of the family. And now here is Abraham enjoying this son of the promises son of blessing. And somewhere perhaps when he was either a late teenager or in his early 20s.

We don't know the age. A lot of these pictures when you see Abraham and Isaac going up to Mount Moriah. A lot of these pictures show this little boy. He wasn't a little boy.

They missed the timeline. The Bible says he carried the wood for the sacrifice. You don't put no big load of sacrificial wood. We're talking about wood the size of offering a burnt offering of an animal. A whole load of wood.

You're not going to put that on some little seven-year-old. Isaac carried the wood and had the breath to talk to his daddy while he going up the mountain. And you know, his daddy is a hundred and some years old. He did good to get up the mountain. And they're walking and talking and fellowshiping.

This boy is up there. He's at least a teenager, perhaps in his early 20s, when they get to the place where the sacrifice is to occur. And remember the Lord had instructed Abraham, I want you to sacrifice your only son. Now if you're unchurched, let me make sure you're clear to understand. Genesis 22 does not promote nor does it indicate that God ever wanted human sacrifice. At no point in redemptive history has that been the will of God. Many people are unchurched. You have to stop and say things like that. God doesn't support human sacrifice.

Has never required it. But in this case, he told Abraham something unbelievable. I want you to kill your son as a sacrifice to me. And Isaac, not knowing what's about to happen, carries the wood. They get there, place it at the place where the sacrifice is to take place. And Isaac says, Dad, we have everything. We're ready to start the fire. But where is the offering?

Where's the animal? And Abraham said to him, Son, the Lord will provide. And then he said, Now I need you to get up here. He got to see his dad's faith for years and finally he gets to participate and take his first step of faith.

Why? Because the traits of the parents become the tendencies of the children. He's seen his daddy unquestionably follow God. And now here's his first chance to do it.

And what a first test. Son, God wants you to get on the altar. There's no way Abraham could have forced him. Abraham is hundreds of years old. His son is coming up on his prime.

He's got little muscles and stuff. There's going to be no sacrifice unless Isaac willingly says, I don't understand this, but I've never seen my daddy miss God. So I'm just trust him. And the boy climbs on there and watches his father lift a knife. What faith?

Both of them are having in this moment. And then God speaks and says, Abraham, stay your hand. I don't want Isaac dead. I want him surrendered. I want him yielded.

I want you to demonstrate that there's nothing you will ever withhold from me. And he says, Look, I have provided and they look over in the bush and there's a ram caught in the bush. His horn is caught in the thicket. All they got to do is go over there and wrestle him free. Slay him and offer him as the sacrifice. Isaac got to see his daddy demonstrate faith. And he learned lessons of faith directly.

That's what we've got to do. We have to so live it that it is what our kids, what those we influence see from us all the time. They just see an example of faith. They see that you live by it.

You don't just try to conjure it up when you get sick and need to be healed. You live by faith. You go through your trials by faith. You make your decisions by faith. You love your wife and husband by faith. You trust God for your needs by faith. Whatever it is, they've got to see us living and demonstrating that faith.

That's the biblical pattern all throughout redemptive history. Up next, the second half of today's Destined for Victory message with Pastor Paul Shepherd. We want to thank all of you whose prayers and financial support helped Pastor Paul share the gospel all over the world. And as we continue to find ourselves living in a period of uncertainty, your support is even more critical today because in times of crisis, people are looking for a reason to have hope.

Well, Jesus is that hope. So please, prayerfully consider making a gift to Destined for Victory today. Give online safely and securely from our website, pastorpaul.net, or give us a call at 855-339-5500.

Again, the number is 855-339-5500. And when you give, we have a gift of our own to share with you. I'll tell you all about it after today's message. Do you want God to hear your prayers and bless you beyond measure? Well, the place to start is with humility, the kind of humility that submits to God's will and walks in obedience to it. Here's Pastor Paul with the rest of today's message, developing a lifestyle of faith. Remember Timothy, spiritual son of Paul? Paul said when he wrote Timothy, he said, I know that there's a calling to God, the hand of God is on your life. I know that by virtue of the generational blessings you're living under. He said, I know that what's in you was first in your grandmother, Lois, and then it continued in your mother, Eunice.

And he said, now it's in you. That's what we need, saints. We need three generations, four generations of blessing, of divine favor. They walk under, they live under an open heaven. God hears their prayers because they walk in unquestioning obedience. They don't act a fool and then hope to be blessed anyway. They don't live in disobedience and hope to be blessed in any way. They don't withhold anything God requires and hope to be blessed anyway. They walk like Abraham did in unquestioning obedience.

And the kids get to see it. So he blessed the generations following by disclosing his testimony, by demonstrating his faith, finally by discerning his son's needs. Before Abraham died, he discerned that his son needed to marry and to marry well. The context was that Sarah has died. Sarah lived a good full life and she died. She died younger than her husband, earlier than her husband. She was already 10 years younger than him and she also died earlier than him. Doesn't usually happen that way. Think about it, typically the wife will outlive the husband.

Not so in that case. So Sarah is now deceased. Family's mourning. Bible tells us that Abraham gave her a proper burial.

Isaac is mourning, grieving the death of his mother. As Abraham's looking toward death now himself, we find in Genesis 24 verses 2 through 9 these words. Abraham said to the chief servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, put your hand under my thigh.

That's a position of a covenant that's about to be established. I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I'm living. But will go to my country, to my relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac. The servant asked, what if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I take Isaac back to the country you came from? Look at Abraham, make sure you do not take my son back there. Abraham said, the Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father's household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me with an oath to your offspring, I will give this land, he will send his angel before you so that you get a wife for my son from there. If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you'll be released from this oath.

Only do not take my son back there. So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter. Do you see the significance of that? Abraham's getting ready to die. He's got to ensure before he dies the family's going to keep living under the same blessing I've been living under. The only way to do that is this boy needs to marry well and marry the right woman. And the only way that's going to happen is she has to be from my native land because we're living among these heathens, these Canaanites, these people who don't know God.

They're all around us, some of them fine and cute and beautiful. And I don't want Isaac looking around here for the woman who's going to walk with him under the blessing of God. He said she's from there. Go there and bring her here.

That's a message by itself. Some of y'all are willing to leave here and go there, wherever there is, to make a mistake. God said no, the right woman is there, but one of the proofs that she's your woman is she is willing to leave there.

Why is that important? Because I was willing to hear God and leave there to come here. I needed to marry somebody who knows how to hear God and leave their comfortable situation and go where God's telling them to go. And if she won't come from there to here, that's not the one for him. But make sure, do not take my son from here and take him, I love the word, back there. See, some of y'all are willing to go back to get your fleshly needs met. And God says, I'm never blessing you backwards. I'm always blessing you forward.

Some of y'all got to get rid of your past stuff, your past junk, your past relationships. There's nothing good for you back there. Everything God has for you is coming here and going with you from here to where God is taking you. I'm preaching if you don't know it.

This is a word for somebody. You got to quit going back there and being willing to change your address for some mess. If they love you, they'll come where you are. They'll hear the God that you are following. They'll live under the blessing of God in your life. You don't have to drag anybody kicking and screaming. We got to learn how to listen to God about those kinds of life decisions. Y'all got to quit all this walking by sight. It's killing you.

Well, I thought that's the problem. And I love in Bible times, that's why parents, it wasn't an imposition for them to say, that's who you're supposed to marry. Let's make it happen. Let's go.

Wasn't an imposition. I know today's world, which I would let my mother and my father, head all rolling, eyes rolling all up in the back of your head. Don't say amen if your spouse is in this room. I promise, I promise some of y'all would be in much better shape today if you would let somebody speak into your life about that issue. If they hear, just grunt, just say, mmm.

The father blessed the next generation by discerning their needs and addressing them before he died. Y'all got to quit being quiet about stuff you're supposed to speak up about. Your kids are cursed because you're quiet. You got to be willing to disclose your testimony. You got to be willing to demonstrate your faith. And for God's sake, you have to be willing to discern their needs and address them. Where you see them going wrong, pull them aside. Where they're so hard-headed, just tell them just so you're on the record. Just tell them so you're on the record. Some of y'all got kids, you know they ain't going to listen to you. Tell them for spite. Tell them for spite. Say, listen, let me just go on the record. You need to do this now.

Let me help you. And if they won't let you help them, pray for them. And be okay with the fact that sometimes they got to make their bed and lay in it. I am all the way convicted that some folks have got to get worse before they'll ever get better. Some people, you got to let it get worse than it is now.

Because where it is now is uncomfortable, but not so uncomfortable that they're willing to change. You know people who are scared to go to the doctor, refuse to go. And you think what's wrong with them is probably something that if they catch it now, they probably can get a surgery or get some treatment that will help them. But if they're scared to death, all you have to do is let that right pain hit them. Have any of y'all ever had that right pain?

That pain that is so severe, that pain that is so extraordinary, that you don't care what the doctor has to do. You need to do something to get this. Don't hand me no forms.

I don't care what I don't have. If y'all don't cut me open, I'm going to cut myself. Some people are one crisis away from finally getting their act together. You know the power to demonstrate our faith comes from the Holy Spirit.

But the decision is ours to make. When we choose to live faith-driven lives that others can clearly see, we are in effect sharing the Gospel with them. I hope that today's message has encouraged you to be an example of faith to those closest to you. I'd also like to invite you to share that faith by joining the thousands of listeners who help Pastor Paul Shepherd preach the Gospel all over the world. Almost every day someone writes to let us know how they've been blessed by the Destined for Victory broadcast.

And it wouldn't be possible without the loving, faithful support of people like you. If you believe God is leading you to make a generous donation, there are three ways you can give. Log on to pastorpaul.net and give online. Call us here at 855-339-5500 to make a donation over the phone. Or mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, CA 94538.

That's Destined for Victory, Box 1767, Fremont, CA 94538. In appreciation of your generous gift today, we're pleased to offer you, by request, a booklet from Pastor Paul called Lessons from the Cocoon. You know, butterflies don't start out as butterflies.

They're caterpillars, grounded, earthbound. But later on, a transformation takes place and they take flight. Your life in Christ works the same way. In Lessons from the Cocoon, Pastor Paul reminds you that God is at work in you even when you can't see it.

And in His perfect timing, you will, like the butterfly, take flight because you were born to fly. That's Lessons from the Cocoon, our gift to you by request for your generous gift to Destined for Victory. Please 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, CA 94538. You will experience both trials of faith and rewards of faith. And I want to make sure you don't think something's wrong with your faith when you're going through the trials. Faith is a two-sided coin.

You cannot divide that. You can't have one without the other. That's next time in Pastor Paul Shepherd's message, Developing a Lifestyle of Faith. Until then remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are Destined for Victory.