Born to Fly, Part 1

You know why some of us are very slow in our spiritual development?

Because we feed the body really well, but the spirit is starving to death. If you're gonna go where God has destined you to go, you're gonna have to feed your spirit as much or more as you feed your body. Building spiritual muscle on today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd.

Hello and thanks for tuning in. You know the Christian life was never meant to be lived with your feet planted firmly on the ground. You were designed to mount up with wings as eagles, but maybe you've forgotten you have wings.

Why are you sitting instead of soaring? Maybe it's because you're not feeding the spirit the way you should. Today, Pastor Paul encourages you to see your full potential in Christ and begin doing the things necessary to achieve it. Stay right here or listen online anytime at pastorpaul.net.

You can also download the podcast at pastorpaul.net, at Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And be sure to stay tuned after the message when Pastor Paul joins me in the studio. But first, let's join him for today's message, Born to Fly. All of us are somewhere in our development phase of becoming who we actually are. Some of us are early in development. And here's the thing about spiritual development.

It happens in phases because our lives are multifaceted. Some of us already have some Bentley work. If you've been walking with God enough, there's some things that are already marvelous about you.

And people are already exclaiming, boy, God has really changed you in some significant ways. You can have some great development in some areas of your life. But how many know all of our areas don't bloom at the same time?

If you're like me, you got some Bentley areas and you still got some old beetle. Let's look at it in nature. Look at this concept in nature. In nature, when a butterfly mama lays the eggs, she lays them often on a leaf. Not always, but often on a leaf.

You know why? Because she knows that those eggs have to develop in a certain way. So she'll lay them often on a leaf. And when you see the egg, you have no idea. If you just walk up on the leaf and see these little eggs, you have no idea what they are unless you're experienced and know what you're looking at. Just looks like some insect laid some eggs. Eventually, the eggs give forth and it was laid by a butterfly. Guess what comes out the egg? Not a butterfly, a caterpillar. Little, tiny caterpillar. Butterfly that laid it beautiful, flew over there to drop off the delivery and then flew on about her business. Beautiful.

All kind of colors and patterns. She dropped off the eggs. If you're a novice, you think when it pops open, you're going to see this little, tiny butterfly. No, what you see is a caterpillar. It's ugly. It's earthbound. Cannot fly. Doesn't look good. Nobody says, ooh, what a cute little baby caterpillar. It's ugly.

It's earthbound. But it's born to fly. No wings, but born to fly. Born to be beautiful.

Born to attract attention. Born to go where it wants to go. But right now, it's sitting on a leaf.

Ugly as it knows how to be. Can't fly. You say what's up? What's up is what is called in nature metamorphosis. It's the same concept that the New Testament teaches about your spiritual development. That little, ugly, earthbound, leafbound thing is born to fly. But it's got to go through metamorphosis. There's only one thing a caterpillar does well. And it's the one thing that God designed it in nature to do in order to become who he is. That one thing it does is eat. It eats all the time. The reason the mama often lays the eggs on a leaf is because she knows the leaf will begin to feed her babies immediately.

The baby won't have to crawl anywhere and try to find some food. Mama just dropped it off right there. All you got to do is open your mouth, baby, and start eating. Right there.

Leaf right there. And you're on a tree with more leaves. The first step in the development from caterpillar to butterfly is when you break out of the egg, start eating. And then eat some more. And then eat some more. And then eat some more. The thing eats constantly. Always eating. That's all it does is eat.

You know why some of us are very slow in our spiritual development? Because we feed the body really well. But the spirit is starving to death. And the Bible told you man shall not live by bread alone. Don't just go to the grocery store and get groceries and feed your body three times a day.

Couple snacks thrown in in between. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Jesus taught us you got to eat all the time.

If you're going to become like me, if you're going to go where God has destined you to go, you're going to have to feed your spirit as much or more as you feed your body. Brothers and sisters, God has made you a Bentley. But if you still got some beetle areas of your life. Oh raggedy beetle areas. Rust on it. Tires jacked up. Doesn't have wheels, has old fashioned hubcaps.

Y'all remember back then now everything is wheels. What you rolling on? I'm rolling on 20s. Y'all remember the day when what?

Rolling on 20s. What's that? You got a hubcap and popped it in there and hope that it matched the other three on the car. Come on some of y'all. We grew up admiring people's hubcaps. Look at the hubcaps on that car. And there was always somebody who rolled up with two nice hubcaps and then the other wheels were just bare and exposed.

Some of y'all, that's some areas of your life. You got about two hubcaps. Don't have any wheels at all.

Just two hubcaps. You don't know what rolling on 20s is. You hobbling on 13s. If you got some areas of your life like that, what's the first thing you got to do in your spiritual metamorphosis? You got to start eating. Eat and eat and eat. In other words, what does God say about this area of my life?

What does God's word say about what God wants out of me in this area? Transformation metamorphosis takes place when I follow the process and while this ugly area of my life is unappealing to anything or anybody, the one thing I'm called to do in this area is to eat. Eat, eat. What does God say?

Eat. That's why, don't quit applauding yourself when you come to church every third Sunday. This generation, I don't know, I'm telling you, this generation is something, these people want you to give them a plaque when they show up once a month. Not y'all, but the people in the other service. I was telling the pastor recently, he said, what is that like to have church in all them different cities that you were talking about? I said, we have church in four different cities.

I could write a book on how not to grow a church. Four different cities. They said, well, do the people come? I said, sometimes. I said, I got about three different churches. I got some folk who show up every nine men.

You couldn't even put a predictable time on it. Just every now and then they pop up. And they pop up grinning like they've been here the whole. What amazes me is when y'all show up, it's like you never let them come. Hey, pastor, how you doing? How you been? I feel like saying I've been here. Where you been? Not how I've been, where I've been. I've been at church as I was ministering somewhere else. Where you been? You're not going to get any way of feeling like that.

Your little raggedy beetle self, you're going to stay a beetle. You're not feeding on the word. You need it line upon line, precept upon pre. You need the messages you like and the messages you don't like. You need the one where you say, oh, pastor is handed up this Sunday and you need the messages where when I'm done, you just say you need that, too. You probably need the message more than you need the happy message that left you sitting out here shouting because the is God's vegetables.

That's going to make your growth. That's the stuff that make you cry and get down on your face before God and say, Lord, start with me. That's what you need. 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. Remember, you can listen to the broadcast on demand at pastorpaul.net.

That's pastorpaul.net where you'll also find a host of great resources at our online store. Would you like to soar instead of sit, fly instead of flounder? Feed the spirit and the mind and body will follow.

Here's Pastor Paul with the rest of today's message, Born to Fly. You need to feed on the word. I got folk that come every now and then and then I got folk who come but occasionally regularly.

Almost like clockwork. You're going to see them at least once a month. I said, man, I got some ride or die. I got some ride or die. I was telling the pastor recently I got all three churches. He said, oh, he's out.

I don't mean to celebrate, but I'm so relieved. He said, because I got a building. Y'all are hopping all over the place. At least your people can try to have an excuse that they don't feel like driving over there somewhere. He said, but my people, they know where we're going to be and they still don't show up.

He said, I don't mean to be encouraged by what you're going through, but it is encouraging. I said, but I got those ride or die folk. It doesn't matter where we are. They're going to be there because they know it's not about convenience.

It is about conviction. I need to worship God. I need to be in his presence. I need to be under his word. I need to fellowship with his people.

I need to hear what God is saying to my pastor so he can feed my soul. I have an accountant to keep me financially liquid. I have a doctor to keep me physically healthy. I have a lawyer to keep me legally all right, but I need a man of God who will get me to heaven, who will teach me the word of God, who will make sure I don't miss what God has for me. And I'm telling you, if you respect your doctor and your lawyer and your physical trainer and your physician and everybody else in your accountant more than you respect the man of God who God has raised up to lead you and feed you and knowledge and wisdom and understanding, you are missing the whole point. You don't golf on worship day. You don't golf on worship day. Do your low.

Well, this is my data plan. God trying to plan some stuff down in your soul. Get out in the garden when you get home from church right now. You're supposed to be in the house of God, giving God the glory for what he is doing in your life, sitting under his word and feeding. You ought to come with such a hungry spirit that you cause me to unload everything God is saying to me, everything God is doing to me.

You ought to pull on the anointing that is in me because you need it to grow. You ever seen those little babies? You ever seen a little baby birds sitting in a nest? You know that they were just recently born, especially if they are somewhere outside of your window because you hear them soon as they know mama is somewhere around or daddy. Some of them are fed by the mail, but soon as they know there's some food somewhere, you start hearing them. They up in the tree. You haven't even located the nest yet, but you say, Ooh, there's some babies around here somewhere. Why? Cause they all.

And then if you ever look at it, you see all of them have their faces up and mouths open. Wait and drop off some food and they're going to make noise to you. Feed them. Only thing going to shut me up is some food. That's what I need. I need some more members who are going to make so much noise that I got to feed them the word. Got to make sure you're growing. Got to stay in the word so I can give you something fresh from heaven's kitchen.

Pull on it because I need it. You need to be in worship. You need to be here under the teaching of the one that God has called to lead and feed you. But let me tell you something. Not only do you do that, but you can't survive on one meal a week. So you ought to be in your word every day of your life.

Oh God, say something to me out of this. Just read the scriptures routinely. Quit trying to find a little special chapters you like read the whole thing. Read some old Testament, even though that's not my covenant, but they are principles and there are things you can learn and discern the old Testament shadows, what the new Testament reveals, but read the shadow and get the lesson from it. Some of it is hard to understand it, but read and say, Lord, help me to understand this.

Get you some tools and find out what the historical context, what the spiritual context is, what the cultural context is, and then find out how to apply it to your life. Sometimes I read a chapter. I read two chapters a day. You know my Bible reading plan, two chapters a day, five days a week, 10 chapters a week, but you read it. Sometimes the chapter, especially the old Testament chapter is something really historical and you're not really sure, but say, Lord, help me to see what you were doing in this season of your people's life and help me to discern to put myself in their place and to discern what it is you were saying, what it is you were doing. Feed, feed, eat, and in the new Testament, you're getting the teachings and precepts of Jesus and then the apostles that he left in the word and you need it all. Don't say that doesn't apply to me.

Tuck it away because you're going to need it somewhere down the road. Feed on the word all the time. Never let the word get far from you. Jesus said, you gotta live not only by bread alone. Remember he quoted that old Testament verse to the devil when he was being tempted. You remember that before he launched his public ministry, he was in the wilderness being tempted of the enemy. And the first thing the enemy said is, here's a stone commanded to be bread. He knows Jesus had just been fasting for 40 days. He knew he was hungry. And he tells Jesus, looks like he wants to feed him, command these stones to be made bread. And Jesus said, man should live by bread alone.

But by every word that proceeds out of the mouth, you know what he meant? He meant not going to be anything wrong with me eating. I'm going to need to break this fast very soon and eat. But what I eat and who tells me to eat is not your business.

Brothers and sisters, let me help you. There's a whole lot of food being offered out here in this world, but there's a lot of it you have no business eating. If you are a new creature, God has designed to be a Bentley and you know you've got all these beetle areas of your life. You are not going to get there eating the junk the world is offering you. You are not going to get there feeding on philosophies promoted on talk shows. Because they don't have the word of God in their mouth. Everybody got something to say. Very little of it is of God.

And so you're going to have to eat his word and in doing that you're going to have to choose to not eat all the junk that is not part of the metamorphosis God is doing in your life. We live in a world where everybody got something to say. The Internet has made people of no substance important. This culture is crazy. We make famous people who can't do anything. Have you noticed some of the people? They're doing e-Hollywood stories, whatever it is.

And you look at them and say, now what do they do? Can you sing? No. Can you play? No. Can you write songs? No. Are you an expert in the sport?

No. Some folk are famous for being famous, who were made famous by people who just bothered to look at them and listen to what they say. Brothers and sisters, if you and I are going to get where God's taking us, you're going to have to discern where you're supposed to eat and where you're not supposed to eat. Just cause Oprah said it doesn't mean you ought to eat it.

Just cause Phil said it doesn't mean you need to eat it. Come on, somebody. I know I'm hitting your favorites and you're mad right now. I don't care who they are. I don't care what kind of life coach they say they are. I don't care what kind of guru they're supposed to be. I don't care if they went somewhere, were on a mountain somewhere for years and came off with holy books. If it doesn't match up with the word of the eternal God, you have no business consuming a philosophy that was not given you by God.

You got to discern. Thank you for joining us here on Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd. Today's message, Born to Fly, as well as any recent message from Pastor Paul, can be found on demand at pastorpaul.net.

That's pastorpaul.net, your online home for the Destined for Victory ministry. And before we wrap things up on today's program, Pastor Paul Shepherd has joined me from his studio in California. Pastor, I know you've been using radio to reach people all over the world for quite some time now. I was wondering if you would take just a moment and share with everyone just why you choose to make the radio ministry part of your platform for sharing the gospel of Christ. Well, I want to tell you that it's important to me as a discipler that my voice is heard and it is used to help people grow in their knowledge of the Lord and in their faith walk with Him. Fact of the matter is my voice doesn't sound like most of the other folks you hear on Christian radio.

I'm well aware of that and I'm really comfortable with that. I come from my own unique background, both ethnically and in terms of life experience. There are things I share, there are things I say, and there are the ways that I say them that are unique. I believe that that perspective needs to be heard throughout Christendom.

And so while I'm so grateful for all of my heroes, your heroes are mine. I listen to the same people, the guys who have been on the radio for decades and have proclaimed God's word faithfully. I really do appreciate those guys, but I've learned not to be intimidated by them because I've got my own way of processing and own way of sharing and helping people to learn and to grow in their faith.

So it's quite intentional. Sometimes I like to be really colloquial in what I say and how I say it because I'm just using who I am and I think God wants to use that. He's the one who called me.

I didn't call myself. He called me and I believe he knows what he was getting when he called me into the ministry. And so I'm just trying to make a difference because the gospel really does change lives and I believe I have a unique calling to help present the gospel from my own perspective. And I pray that that's resonating with listeners and I pray that that means enough to them that they'll make sure my voice can continue to be heard right along with our other heroes who teach the gospel of Jesus. Pastor, I know I speak for a lot of people when I say what a blessing your media ministry has been to us all. But as Pastor Paul said, this only happens with your help.

And as you give your generous gift to Destin for Victory, Pastor Paul would love to send you his booklet, Lessons from the Cocoon. You know, butterflies don't enter this world with wings. They don't even enter the world as butterflies.

Their transformation takes place over time. And that's how life of a believer in Christ works. In Lessons from the Cocoon, Pastor Paul helps you understand that God is doing good things in you even when your life seems somewhat stagnant and unremarkable.

And he reminds you that eventually you will have wings because you were born to fly. That's Lessons from the Cocoon, our gift to you today by request for your generous gift to Destin for Victory. Call 855-339-5500 to give over the phone.

Or mail your gift to Destin for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, CA 94538. You can also make a safe and secure donation from our website, PastorPaul.net. Salvation is not merely for the hereafter.

It's also for the here and now. Here's Pastor Paul. I want you to understand that in saving us, Christ did more than prepare us for eternity. He also comes into our lives to do a significant work of change in our lives. That's tomorrow in Pastor Paul Shepherd's message, Born to Fly. Until then remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.