Jesus' Prayer for You, Part 3 (cont'd)

Hello and welcome to this Thursday edition of Destined for Victory.

Thanks so much for stopping by. In just a few moments, Pastor Paul Shepherd will share his message, Jesus Prayer for You. But first, he and I have something important for you to prayerfully consider today. You know, just about every day here on the program we ask people to stand with us financially. That's because we're a listener supported ministry. Let me underscore that for just a moment. This means the only way we exist is through the prayers and financial support.

of people like you. And in 2021, our prayers that you might consider, if you haven't done so already, becoming a Destined for Victory partner. Partners are a special group of people that give a monthly gift of at least $20.

Now, if you can make that commitment today, we have some special gifts I'll tell you about in just a moment. But Pastor Paul joins me. And Pastor, take a moment, please, and tell us why partners are so important to this ministry.

Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, Wayne. Partners are really the lifeline of this ministry. Without those people committed to giving regularly, we literally could not continue doing what we're doing.

I guess people hear that a lot, but it is really true. Without partners, we simply can't get the gospel out to the world. The gospel is free, but the plumbing costs an awful lot of money. I'm so grateful for every single partner. And I'm praying in 2021 that God will give us thousands more. There are many more outlets and many more opportunities we could take advantage of in our lives.

But the only thing that holds us back is lack of income. So I'm praying that God's going to touch the heart of many more people to realize that with just your gift of $20 or more, you can help us remain strong on the stations and outlets we're on and reach many more with the gospel of Jesus Christ. All right, thank you, Pastor. That's what it's all about, reaching more people with the gospel. And if you make that commitment by pledging $20 or more per month to help us do that, we'll send you with our thanks a couple of great gifts, including one of Pastor Paul's most popular CDs, The Best of Let My People Smile. It's a compilation of some of Pastor's most humorous illustrations and stories, something that will be sure to make you laugh and learn at the same time. So call 855-339-5500 or mail your gift, letting us know you wish to become a partner.

The address is Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California 94538. You can also sign up by clicking Become a Partner right at the top of the homepage at pastorpaul.net. And if you're already a partner, Pastor Paul and I want to say a heartfelt thank you and challenge you to consider becoming a legacy partner.

These are special ministry friends that are able to support us with gifts of $2,500 or more each year. The details are available at the website pastorpaul.net or by giving us a call at 855-339-5500. And please understand that this is going to be a journey where you will find God giving you power you've never had before, because everything you've ever done prior to coming to Christ was on your own strength.

No wonder you failed. You may already believe in God's power to save you, but do you believe in His power to change you? Today on Destined for Victory, Pastor Paul Shepherd explains how the power of God can be the difference between being ordinary and being extraordinary. Stay with us here or listen anytime on demand at pastorpaul.net. Right now let's join Pastor Paul Shepherd for his Destined for Victory message, Jesus Prayer for You. See, you might respond to an altar call or however you trust Christ for salvation and you think you're just praying a simple prayer. You're saying, Lord, I'm sorry for my sins and I confess to you that I need you and I believe that you died for me and I ask you to come into my life. Well, through that one sincere prayer, God actually takes you from spiritual death to life. It's being born again.

It's no less a dynamic experience than a child being conceived when a couple, ideally a married couple. Let's keep the standard out there, because, you know, the world is changing all day. As long as we love each other, it doesn't matter. What is a piece of paper is called marriage, and it's the will of God that you join your hearts in holy matrimony. A piece of paper represents we want to do this right in the sight of God. And so get the paper in Jesus' name.

We can't make up our own rules. We're called to show forth the praises of Him. And so a married couple comes together and if the result is conception, something dynamic has happened, now you might not see the change, old things becoming new. You don't see the change right away at conception, do you?

In fact, you need somebody else to tell you that a change has happened. So when you leave the altar and we tell you that you're saved now by grace. You don't necessarily feel different, but believe me, the Word of God said you are different. You were not a person, you are now a child of God. That is spiritually speaking. You had no spiritual identity, no spiritual life, now you have received the life of Christ. And you have been conceived by the Holy Spirit. And there's now going to be a process of growth. And notice when it comes to natural birth, it'll give you some windows of truth. Natural birth starts in the womb of the mother and at first there's not much evidence for the world to see.

Right? So don't sweat it if everything in your life hasn't conformed yet to the will of God. The important thing is that you begin to allow the sanctifying agent of the Word to impact on what you think and what your values are.

And understand what God's will is for your life so that he builds a foundation of truth into your life. And you know how it is, at first a mother has to tell everybody she's pregnant. She has to tell you because you wouldn't know it. We thought we'd let you know because you're special.

You're one of our special friends. We thought we'd let all our special friends know. See there's a designated group of folk, they'll tell before the world knows. But they have to tell you because you can't spot it. But it's real, really pregnant. You don't see it but I really am pregnant. And you tell those people. Well it's only a matter of time when people start telling you, God look at you. See what I mean? Well before you declare she's pregnant she could have told you months ago. But you got to understand the change is real. So those of you who are born again but you're struggling with some of the old issues and say well I must not be saved because the Bible says old things are passed away and I'm still dealing with old junk. No, no, it's talking about the inside first. Inside first.

Conception is real, but you'd have to see it through a microscope. But give it time. Let the Word, the truth of God's Word. That's why Peter said as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that you might grow.

You say well what do I do? I got saved but I still got these issues and struggles. You get somewhere where you can get into the Word. Not only in church on Sunday, but then get into a Bible study.

Get with a couple of people and say let's get together and study God's Word together. Let's go through a good book that will help us understand the truths of the Word together. Because the more I receive of God's Word, the more I position myself to experience the life change, the makeover that God has for me.

So the first change agent is the Word. The second change agent is the Holy Spirit. The Bible says we are sanctified by the Spirit. For instance, 1 Corinthians 6 and 11.

After he just got through telling you about the fact that you can't live the old way and be a child of God. 1 Corinthians 6 beginning with verse 9. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.

This is a good word for us in this 21st century. Do not be deceived. We have a whole lot of spiritual deception. That's why you got to get into a healthy, well-balanced church or else you will lose your soul. People out here telling you you can live any old kind of way and be right with God. It's not so.

It's not so. The Bible says you cannot inherit the kingdom of God living in sin. It says don't be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexual offenders, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanders, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

And that, of course, is just a very partial list. What does that mean? What does that mean to somebody who just took something this week and you knew you weren't supposed to take it? It means if you don't allow the Spirit of God and the Word of God to take you from that lifestyle of being a thief. If you continue in that pattern outside of the will of God, you will end up proving that you didn't know the Lord at all.

You will end up showing that your heart was not married to Him at all. Because in the end, you rejected His Word, His plan, His will, His grace, His power for your own way. The Bible says you will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the good news is in the next verse. It says, and that's what some of you were, were, past tense.

Well, what's the difference? But you are washed, you were sanctified, there's the Word, and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. The Spirit of God saves us and then He sanctifies us. That is to say, our identity, although you took something this week you weren't supposed to take, God looks at you if you're truly born again and says, you're not a thief. He changes your identity. You're not a thief, you're my child. You used to be a thief. When you were in your sins, you had to be characterized by your sins. Now, your identity has changed. You say, yeah, but I just took something.

Yeah, but you're not a thief. God doesn't call you what you do. God calls you who you are.

Aren't you so glad? You're clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, He became sin who knew no sin that you and I might become the righteousness of God in Him. God looks at me and says, you're righteous. And you say, but I remember what I just did. God says, you're righteous.

Why? Because He changes our identity. He starts with the inside, starts with the foundation. You got to get in the Word and find out who you are. You'll never change what you do till you know who you are.

You live in sin because you see yourself as a sinner because you haven't allowed the Word of God to show you you're not a sinner. You're called with a holy calling. Now, God's going to take you so that your lifestyle conforms to your identity.

If you try to clean up a person with their ax first, you're making them a hypocrite. If I preach to you, quit stealing. And that's all you hear every Sunday.

Stop stealing. And you don't hear anything about your identity. You don't hear anything about the Word.

You don't hear anything about the Spirit of God and His power. You'll be good and guilty, right? If I say quit lying, quit lying, stop all that lying. And you get in a jam and keep on lying when you're in a jam, you'll be loaded with guilt. But at worst or best, depending on how you want to look at it, you'll become a hypocrite.

And what you'll get good at is hiding your lying from people who you want to impress. So what does God do? He starts by changing who we are.

Find a variety of resources at our online store. Now, here's Pastor Paul with the rest of today's Destined for Victory message, Jesus' Prayer for You. You become a new creation in terms of who you are. He gives you an identity. He makes you to know you are chosen. You are a royal priesthood.

You are holy. You are set apart. He begins to show you who you are and then on the basis of who He has made you, He empowers you to be who you are. But you will never be empowered to be who you are until you know who you are.

You got to know that stealing and lying and all these things are not to characterize your life because God has made you His own child. And God says, I have a power and a grace available to you. I have built into your spiritual DNA the ability to respond to my word and receive my spirit so that you have a power that is not your own. And that way, when you see God begin to lead you by the process of the word and the spirit out of an old lifestyle, you know not to take any of the credit. And so that when you get to the place where you say, you know what, I used to just be completely unfaithful and now I can be faithful by the power that God has given me, by tapping into His power, I am being faithful. You know to give the glory to God because it's not you, it's Him working through you. His word has changed your value system and His spirit has given you a new power. And see, when you understand this, then the whole concept of sanctification doesn't become something you resist, it becomes something you embrace. And you say, oh God, change me.

Oh Lord, make me like you. We sometimes sing a song, change my heart, oh Lord, make it ever true, change my heart, oh God, may I be like you. See, you'll long to want to do right, you'll long to want to live right. When you get into the word, it'll develop an appetite for holiness if you're born again. If your identity's been changed, you get into this word and it'll develop an appetite.

You'll read and say, oh God, I want to be like this. And the good news is, you can be. God doesn't set a standard. God would be awfully unfair to set a standard in the word that none of us could ever come to. And the fact of the matter is, you and I can become the people God has destined us to be. The Holy Spirit is the change agent.

What is the key then? The key is learning to walk in the Spirit as opposed to in your own flesh or power. That's what it says in Galatians chapter 5 verse 16. Paul says, so I say, live by the Spirit. King James says, walk in the Spirit. Live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. You want to get your life on the track of doing right if you're tired of the same old, same old, tired of same, you know, same old defeatist testimony, which isn't a testimony at all. It's a confession. You're tired of not doing the will of God and you know you're not doing the will of God. What does the Bible say? It says you got to get into the Word.

The Word is the cleansing agent. And then you've got to walk in the Spirit, say, Holy Spirit, I want to yield. Just like these people on a TV show. They go show up at the place and let the plastic surgeon walk them through. Now, here's what I'm going to do. And they walk them through and mark up their face. I'm going to take this, dude. And they grab their gut. I'm going to take all of this out.

And grab various and sundry other things and mark them up. Say, here's what I'm going to do. But when you get into the Word, the Holy Spirit will show you, here's what I'm going to do. I've changed who you are. You're a child of God.

Now, we're going to embark on a journey where I start dealing with some of these issues that you have. And please understand that this is going to be a journey where you will find God giving you power you've never had before. Because everything you've ever done prior to coming to Christ was on your own strength.

No wonder you failed. You and I don't have the power to make our lives happen as they are. It's just like when you buy your kids toys and on the box it says, batteries not included. See, until you come to Christ, you don't have a power source.

You can want to live right in some area and can't pull it off because you don't have the batteries. You come to Christ and He will change your identity and then the Spirit of God will give you a power. So Paul says, walk in the Spirit, live by the Spirit as you read the Word and see who you ought to be. And then you say, Lord, I can't do that unless you give me the help. And you surrender. That's the process. That's why I told you the old saints used to put us on the altar.

Every week we'd be down there, oh God. Because I can't do this without you. I can't do it without you. I fail every time, Lord. I need you to mold me and shape me into the image of your son.

I need you to make me the person that you've called me to be. And when God begins dealing with you, please understand it's a sign you are His child. Understand that when you get under conviction, that's a good thing. It's people who aren't under conviction who need to get into this book and get before God. And see, here's the sad reality.

Again, I told you earlier that what you don't know can kill you. You've got now a generation of American people who want to profess Christianity but don't want any lifestyle change, and they'll say things like, when you call them on shacking up versus getting married, they'll say things like, well, my conscience isn't bothered. Do you know that your conscience is not to be your guide?

You heard that slogan somewhere, but you didn't get it out of the book. Bible didn't say your conscience is your guide. The Bible says the Word is your guide.

Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Don't tell me your conscience isn't bothering you, but your conscience hasn't been educated yet. This Word will educate your conscience. Your conscience can work with the Word, and if you have a knowledge of the Word of God, now your conscience has something to remind you of. Because it's been educated. It's been informed by the Word.

It's been enlightened by the Word. Do something, and your conscience will say, nope, that's not remembered what we read. But until you understand that the Word is to be our guide, you'll go around life thinking everything's okay as long as it doesn't bother you. Do you know there are some people who aren't bothered by killing somebody?

Well, it didn't bother me at all. Your conscience can't be your guide. The Bible says thou shalt not murder. So we've got to understand that the Word and the Spirit work together to begin this extreme makeover process in our lives. Whereby we conform to the image of God's Son, and we say, Lord, I want to present myself. Romans 12 one, present yourself as a living sacrifice.

God, I'm tired of living the old way when I've called to walk in newness of life. And the Word, coupled with the power of the Spirit, will begin a process of, first of all, convicting you, showing you, nope, this is not God's plan. And that's a good thing when you get under conviction. It's a good thing when the Word hits. Don't leave church because the Word hits you. See, I'm not going back there because every time he get up, he's all in my business. Well, that's exactly why you ought to be here.

It's part of the extreme makeover process. Where it'll convict you, it'll show you, nope, this isn't the plan, here's the plan. And then God will give you the power to begin to trust him. And that's why you've got to know the Word because the Word is full of, Peter described it in one of his epistles as, exceeding great and precious promises that by these we may become partakers of the divine nature. What that means is you'll look in the Word and you'll find a promise that suits your situation.

You'll find a mandate that applies to you. And you'll say, Lord, I'm trusting you now by the power of your Spirit that you're going to make this a reality in my life. And some of us can testify that when you give to the Lord these elements of your life that he begins to deal with you about, you will see the process of change taking place. And you will see God beginning to give you the appearance, the outward manifestation of your new identity in Christ. And those who once lied consistently will find that lying no longer characterizes their life, that I have learned by the help of the Spirit, by the Word and the power of the Spirit to tell the truth, that I don't have to bail myself out of a jam by lying and dishonoring God. God now has empowered me.

I can tell the truth and trust him with the results. And I don't have to practice situational ethics anymore and try to figure out based on every situation, I can be just like those Hebrew boys that I read about in my devotion who when they got in a jam were facing a blazing furnace if they didn't cave in to a cultural mandate that was ungodly. They said, we are not slow to answer you, King. The God we serve is able to deliver us out of your hands and he will deliver us. They said, but if not, we still won't bow.

Well, if they could have that kind of power, you can too. It's the process of being sanctified by the Word and by the Spirit. Thanks so much for joining us for today's message. Jesus prayer for you. Remember, when you make a generous donation to Destined for Victory, we'll be glad to send you by request. Pastor Paul's booklet, Lessons from the Cocoon. That's Lessons from the Cocoon, a booklet from Pastor Paul and our gift to you by request for your generous gift to Destined for Victory today. Visit our website, pastorpaul.net.

That's pastorpaul.net to give securely or call 855-339-5500. He said, I want the world to see a church that loves itself, believers who are so connected to each other until the world envies our unity. The world ought to look at us and say, boy, they sure have it together. They sure walk in unity.

They have tight ranks. That's tomorrow in Pastor Paul Shepherd's message, Jesus Prayer for You. Until then, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are Destined for Victory. .