Get Your Shine On…Living a Kingdom-First Lifestyle (cont'd)

Kingdom First Living has got to get in your wallet. Kingdom First Living has got to get in the way you spend money. It's got to be in what you see money as having the purpose for which God gave you resources.

That will show where your heart is. It's okay for you to have money. Just don't let money have you. Hello and thanks for tuning in to Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard, Senior Pastor at Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California. Always glad to have you with us. In Matthew Chapter 6, Jesus tells us to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven, not earth, because it is where our treasure is that our hearts will also be. Today on Destined for Victory, Pastor Paul encourages us to make the kingdom of heaven our top priority, not only in our financial lives, but in our vocational lives as well. Stay with us now or visit pastorpaul.net to listen on demand.

That's pastorpaul.net. And let's join Pastor Paul for today's Destined for Victory message, Get Your Shine On, Living a Kingdom First Lifestyle. So the first question was what would you do with 10 million dollars, a windfall of 10 million dollars.

Instantly, I know what I would do with that. And I want you to think about it and say, Lord, I need to develop a positive amen to what you said to me in verse 33, Lord. I want to seek first the kingdom and that means the first thing I want to do with that 10 million dollars is I want to advance the kingdom of God with a significant portion of it. How much is between you and the Lord?

But it needs to be significant. When people fight against tithing, the Bible doesn't mandate tithing for New Testament followers. Okay, okay, technically it's not mandated in the New Testament. The New Testament calls us to generous giving, but don't tell me for a minute you can be generous and give less than 10%. Just don't even bother telling me that. You know what generosity is? Generosity is what you give your landlord or your mortgage company.

And in case you haven't figured it out, it's more than 10%. So the fact of the matter is we need to know in advance. I want to be generous in saying thank you, Lord, for putting this in my hand and I want to advance the kingdom because the kingdom is the most important work in all the earth. Because we're not dealing with just earthly things.

We are dealing with earthly things, but we're also dealing with eternal things at the very same time. And so what would you do with 10 million? What would you do with 100 million? What would you do with a billion? The answer should be the same that you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And so if that means you say, okay, Lord, how much of this can I keep and how much of this can I advance the kingdom with and how do you want me to advance the kingdom with it?

And pray about that. I'll never forget, years ago, in the early years in California, I moved to California in 1989. Somewhere in the early 90s, I met a millionaire Christian and he took me out to lunch and what have you. He had heard that this young man, that back in those days they did call me a young man, just so you all know. I was a young man when I first got to California and he heard about this young man that came with this big vision and what have you and he just wanted to meet me.

And so we met, went to lunch and what have you and he said, I'm really glad to hear what you're here to do and I've certainly been praying for you and I hope to be able to help out from time to time with some of the things you do. So I just want you to be familiar with who I am and he shared his testimony and he told me the story of becoming a venture capitalist here in the Silicon Valley in the early days of the valley and tech and all of that. And that was when he entered the realm of venture capitalism and he said, I'll never forget, this was that many years ago in the early 90s and one of the sentences he said to me is, he said before I knew it, I was making more money than I knew what to do with.

I had never in my life met anybody who could say such a thing. He said, I was making more money than I knew what to do with. He said, I was making so much money that I at a certain point, I went to my pastor and said to my pastor, you know I've been a tither for years and all that and he said, but I just feel like I really need to share this money beyond my local church. Is it okay, you know that I've been blessed, everybody around me knows I've been blessed. But is it okay if I don't give over and above the tithe here, I will be given over and above the tithe in other places, but I just feel like I can't pour it into one ministry alone.

I gotta spread this out. And his pastor said, oh by all means, you know just do whatever the Lord has put on your heart. And I said, wow, I started saying okay Lord, if you can do that for him, then raise up some more folk who would make that kind of money and put them in my church. That church got him, give me one or two of them that would come to me and say, I got more money than I know what to do with. But my pastor, please, please be okay with me only giving a tithe here and let me give some more money other places and I will say as long as destined for victory is one of them, you go ahead on and do that. Fact of the matter is, fact of the matter is God can bless us in tremendous ways once we get our priorities right. And I just want to invite you to get your priorities in Bible order. Because money is a wonderful servant.

It's just a horrible master. Money, money is great. I don't like to hear Christians beat up on money. I don't like people saying, oh, you know, you really, the Bible says that you need to deny yourself and all that. Yeah, there are principles like that, but you got to rightly divide it. The Bible doesn't say that there's anything wrong with being wealthy even.

Bible doesn't say that at all. And I know that's true because when Paul wrote his son Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 6, he told Timothy warn those who are rich and then he gave them specific instructions. Tell them not to trust in their riches. Tell them not to put their hope in their riches. Tell them to be willing to share with people in need.

Tell them to be generous in the use of them. In other words, he was giving them kingdom priorities for their riches. God's not against you having money.

God's against money having you. And you need to know that in no uncertain terms. God is a wonderful and blessing people and advancing his will through people. And I believe he who can be trusted with little can also be trusted with much.

You know that? Because that's what Jesus told us in Luke 16. If you can be trusted with little, then God might bless you with the much. So let's look at what you're doing with the little. Because Jesus said you need to develop a kingdom first lifestyle.

And so are you giving generously out of what you have right now? I've met people over the years who say, oh, when my ship comes in, pastor, I'm going to really bless the church. I'll never forget a brother. He came to the church building. He wanted to meet me personally. I didn't know him. I don't think he had ever been to one of our services. Maybe it had been one, and I never met him. But he wanted to come because he was expecting to get a significant windfall.

This was just a couple of years ago. We've been here in this location when this brother showed up. And he came, wanted to meet with me, and he told me about what he was doing and how he expected millions to come in the not-too-distant future and that he just wanted me to know that he was going to bless the church when this happened. And I said, oh, man, praise God. I'm so glad that you had us in mind and shook his hand and what have you. And he left.

Haven't seen him or the millions since. Fact of the matter is God will take the generosity that we have right now and he will multiply it for his purposes if we are all doing what we're called to do with what we have right now. Don't have pipe dreams only. I told you that 10 million and 100 million and billion just to get you salivating, just to get you thinking. But I just wanted you to know, I already know the answer as to what you will do.

You will do with that what you're doing with what you have right now. Jesus said if you can be trusted with little, you can be trusted with much. Implication is, and he went on to say if you're dishonest with little, you'll be dishonest with much.

And let me just add another word, not just dishonest. If you're stingy with little, you'll be stingy with much. So we need to make our lifestyle speak right now. I'm advancing the kingdom with what I have right here, right now. Now, that's a financial manifestation of what Jesus said here in Matthew 6. Let's talk about a vocational manifestation of it. What would you be willing to do vocationally to advance the kingdom of God? With the job, with the position you work in, how are you making sure you not just do work that matters on earth, how are you advancing the kingdom on your job? Oh, well, no, I can't let people know that I'm a follower of Christ on my job.

They'd specifically disallow that. Well, they can't disallow me sharing my faith at lunch. They can't disallow me to share my faith in some appropriate setting where I'm not taken away from the company. I represent Jesus everywhere I go. I can't drop Jesus off at the door when I walk into my job. I got to take Jesus into my job. I seek first his kingdom.

I advance his name. So where I work, Jesus goes with me to work. Still ahead, the second half of today's Destined for Victory message with Pastor Paul Shepherd. But we want to take a moment to thank all of you who sustained Destined for Victory with your prayers and financial support, gifts that help Pastor Paul share the gospel with a growing audience. This program is a listener supportive ministry, and today your help is especially critical. In our current climate, with all the uncertainty, people are more willing to hear and respond to the gospel than they've ever been before. So as God leads, please prayerfully consider making a gift to Destined for Victory today. 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. Colossians 3, 23 says, Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, not for men. Here's Pastor Paul with the rest of today's message. Get your shine on, living a kingdom-first lifestyle. Come on, saints, you got to understand, when you go to work, you're going as a representative of the kingdom. You get your paycheck from an earthly company, but you get your ultimate pay from heaven. And if you don't believe that, I've told you many times before, if you think this job is loyal to you, all you got to do is have the wrong thing happen in that realm, and they will drop you off. Fact of the matter is, we've got to advance the kingdom, and we've got to do the will of God at all costs. And your church, your job is not as loyal to you as you think it is. And so you need to know, when I go to work, I'm representing Jesus.

I've got to be wise, and so I can't be out front and blatant with being a follower of Christ when I'm representing the job, but I can find ways that I can do it. Even a Pharisee in Jesus' day, the Pharisees were staunch enemies of Jesus, but one of them, a man named Nicodemus, said, well, I can't really talk to Jesus or about Jesus during the day and keep my status as a Pharisee, he said, but they can't tell me what to do at night. And Nicodemus went and met with Jesus at night. Have you ever read that in John's Gospel Chapter 3? Nicodemus came to Jesus in the evening time.

Everybody is in their homes getting ready for the next day. Nicodemus showed up at Jesus' place at night. It's called Nick at Night. And he went to Jesus and asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And the fact of the matter is, saints, what must I do is a question everybody needs to ask.

They'll only ask it if we are salt and light in the world and we let them know who Jesus is. And so when you go to work, you take your followership of Christ with you to work. In your relationships, how is Jesus and his lordship manifested in your relationships? Every earthly relationship you have needs to be impacted by the fact that you are a follower of Jesus Christ. If you are a husband or a wife, you need to be a husband or a wife who cares about what God thinks about you in that role.

So at the end of the day, it's not just do I do what my spouse wants me to do or requires me to do or however you would put it. Ultimately, the question is, what does God want me to do in this area of my life? If you are a parent, you can't just handle those kids any old kind of way because at the end of the day, at the end of the day, they don't belong to you, they belong to the Lord. The Bible says children are a heritage of the Lord. At the end of the day, they belong to him. They have been lent to you for a period of bringing them up. And trust me, you only have your kids on loan for a period of time because one of these days, they are supposed to grow up and get out on their own.

That's what they're supposed to do. Fact of the matter is though while you have them under your sphere of influence, you are to raise them in the training and instruction of the Lord, give them his word, and you are to model being a sold out follower of Christ to them because at the end of the day, they can't hear what you say for watch what you do. So don't tell me you are a sold out, kingdom first follower of Christ and your kids don't see you worshiping him and loving him and surrendering every area of your life to him. So we've got to understand every relationship is impacted by my relationship to Jesus Christ, submission to his lordship.

And so you got to look at all of your areas of relationship. Your friendships ought to reflect God's glory in your life. The way you deal, you who have a little love life, even if you're not married, got a little girlfriend, a little boyfriend, a little significant other, that's supposed to be according to the will of God. According to the will of God. That's why you're not supposed to be a Christian shacking up.

That's right, come on. Not supposed to be following Christ shacking up. Now if you're doing that and this word convicts you, then you got to say, okay, we got to make some change. I have over these years of destiny, as I share with people, listen, we need to get our lives straight. I know what it is to be out of God's will. I know what it is to realign my life with God's will. And I call people to do that regularly.

And you've got to do it no matter what the cost. And so I have done, you know, you who are part of the destiny family, we've done lots of weddings right in the middle of a Sunday service. And even these days when we are worshiping virtually, if y'all need to get married, I will marry you virtually. We'll marry you on Zoom.

And put it in the service on Zoom. Look at these folk, they just got married. The Lord told them to change their lifestyle and get married, and they wanted to marry in front of the church, and I'll put it right on Zoom.

Why? Because we got to be serious about being kingdom first people. God calls us to advance his kingdom by all means necessary. And so I want to let you know that the will of God is for you and I to develop this kingdom first lifestyle. And the first thing you need to do is to make sure that folks understand that you're prioritizing things of heavenly value.

Because brothers and sisters, saints and friends, and some of us who grew up in church, you heard it growing up, only what you do for Christ will last. A lot of good things you can do in this world, and they make a good difference in this world. But what you do for Christ is what's going to go past this world and take and follow you into eternity. I don't know about you, but the older I get, the more I'm concerned about eternity. The older I get and the closer to it I become, that is my highest aim. I want to lay up treasures in heaven. I want to make sure that I'm not doing well on earth and doing poor in my heavenly bank account.

I want to advance the kingdom here and now through the way I use money, through the way I use time, for the way I have my relationships in every area of my life, I want the kingdom to be advanced because the day is coming. Saints, we don't talk about it a lot, but the day is coming, the Lord is going to return. The Lord is coming back. According to the Scriptures, he's coming back soon. When you look at the signs of the times, look at the way life is today. I believe the Lord's return is very soon. I'm not a predictor.

I know Harold Camping. I'm not trying to tell you when Jesus is going to come, but I can tell you he is coming soon. And we need to not only be ready, we need to help other people get ready because one of these days the Lord is going to come get all of us and the Bible says it's appointed once to every man. Either you're going to be here when he comes or what's even more likely for some, you'll beat us into eternity because you're going to check out of this world. Saints, I hope you know that you got an appointment with death coming.

None of us want to talk about it much. Not trying to leave here soon, but you need to live ready to go. You ought to live your life fully now, enjoy your life fully now, advance the kingdom now.

I'm not interested in leaving right this year. But none of us have guarantees. So are you ready when the Lord comes to get you is the question. And we need to help the people in our sphere of influence know that same thing and help them get ready. One of the best ways you can help them get ready is you model kingdom first living right in front of them. Do not live your life as if you're going to heaven.

Instead, live it as if you're already there. Thanks so much for joining us for Pastor Paul Shepherd's message. Get your shine on living a kingdom first lifestyle. Listen to any of his recent messages on demand at pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net.

Or subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get yours. Well, as we navigate our way through some tough challenges in America and all over the world, we're seeing the Destined for Victory audience continue to grow. Adversity very often brings with it a degree of spiritual awareness, and friends like you make it possible for Pastor Paul to minister to a growing audience. Thanks so much for lifting us up in prayer and making donations when you can.

Today, we'd like to lift you up in prayer. From our home page at pastorpaul.net, click Contact Us and tell us how we can pray for you. While you're there, be sure to ask for Pastor Paul's monthly letter of encouragement, yours at no cost or obligation. And here's something else for you, a booklet from Pastor Paul called Your Purpose is Calling. If you're seeking God's specific will for your life, this will be a great resource for you, one that will give you three directives to help you discover his unique plans for you. That's Your Purpose is Calling, our gift to you by request for your generous gift to Destined for Victory. So 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.

Our post office box is 1767 Fremont, California 94538. For the first time ever, there are seven named generations that are alive in America, seven distinctive generations alive in America. That has never happened in the history of our nation. So right now, in 2020, we are experiencing the most unique time in American history. Seven generations, and God has something to say to all of them. Coming tomorrow, Pastor Paul Shepherd turns his attention to the younger generations in his message, a word to the generations following. But until then, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are Destined for Victory.