Stormproof Your Life, Part 3

God is making us people who when he gets through with us you won't even recognize yourself.

The people who knew you won't recognize you. Your values are different. Your style is different. Your instincts are different.

Your desires are different. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold all things have become new. That's 2 Corinthians 5 17 and this is Destined for Victory. Hello and welcome to another great day of teaching with Pastor Paul Shepherd, who is Senior Pastor at Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California. Well, when God gets a hold of you, he isn't trying to make a new version of the old you.

Instead, he creates a whole new person. Be encouraged today. God wants to do a brand new thing in you and a brand new thing through you. Today's message is straight ahead, so stay right here. Or remember, you can always visit pastorpaul.net to listen on demand. That's pastorpaul.net.

You can also subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get yours. Now, let's join Pastor Paul for today's Destined for Victory message, Storm Proof Your Life. Matthew Chapter 7, beginning with verse 24. Jesus is speaking and he says this, Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. Jesus is telling us in the conclusion of his Sermon on the Mount how important it is for us to not just hear what he teaches, but to put it into practice. And he says, Those who hear these words of mine and put them into practice are like a person building a house on a rock.

And the advantage, of course, is that when the storms of life come, and there are all sorts of storms, there are personal storms, and there are family storms, there are storms related to careers, storms related to health challenges, financial storms, and on and on. As the storms of life come their way, he says, a person whose life is built on practicing my word will be able to stand those storms. But he said for people who hear these words of mine but really don't take it seriously and don't put it into practice, he says they are like a person who builds a house on sand.

The problem is it has no strong foundation, so when the storms come, he says that house is going to fall, and it will fall with a great crash. And I don't know if you're paying attention, but people all around us are crashing every day. Lives are being destroyed for a lack of obedience to God and to his word. People are breaking down as a result of personal storms and family storms and financial storms and career storms and on and on. Society is in trouble, not sure which way to go, and in many ways it is built on sinking sand. Like never before, folks, we've got to take seriously how important it is to follow the words of the hymn writer who said, on Christ, the solid rock I stand, for all other ground is sinking sand.

And I don't know about you, but I don't want a life built on sinking sand. I don't want a life that can come apart at any moment if the wrong things happen. But I want to be able, by God's grace, to build a life that is so solid that come what may, when the storm finishes raging, I'll still be standing. And if that's your desire, Jesus says we can have what we desire, but he says the way to get it is to make sure that your life is built on faith and obedience to my word.

Not just knowing it, he says, but putting it into practice. Now, I want to build on this theme and help you understand that in order to live the life that God has designed for us, we are going to have to surrender to him to the level where we allow him to do something completely new in our lives. In fact, to make us completely new people. And one thing we must learn is that the Christian life is not designed to be a Christian version of the old you. So I want to walk you through that from the scriptures. Let's start at Matthew chapter 9, the 9th chapter of Matthew, and I want to especially focus on verses 16 and 17, but let's look at some verses that precede that. In fact, why don't we start all the way at verse 9 and then we'll work our way down to 17 because I want to comment on these verses toward the end of the message. Matthew chapter 9, beginning at verse 9, as Jesus went on from there, meaning Capernaum, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth.

Follow me, he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? On hearing this, Jesus said, it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

But go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have come not to call the righteous, but sinners. Verse 14, then John's disciples came and asked him, how is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? Jesus answered, how can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them?

The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, then they will fast. Now, look at what he says in verses 16 and 17. No one sows a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. For the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out, and the wineskins will be ruined.

No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved. Now, I want you to understand that if we are going to build our lives on a foundation, on a rock, that allows us to stand every storm that may come our way, this means that God is going to be doing something very new, because when the word and the will of God is introduced into our lives, it is designed to bring about radical change. God does not have a plan for us to become new religious versions of the same old person.

In fact, if you note what Jesus said in Matthew 9, 16 and 17, he says you end up with something worse when you try to combine the old and the new, you end up with a worse result than if you had left the old alone. He said take a garment. If you have some old, well-worn garment, and it develops a hole, and you want to patch up the hole, and you go get some new, completely different, unshrunk patch, and you put it on there, he said the result is going to be because they are incompatible materials. It's going to create a tear that actually makes the garment worse than before you tried to mend it. The second example he gives is of wine skins. Now, our culture, we're not very familiar with it, because when we see beverages, most often we see them in a bottle, but in Bible days, wine would be placed in a wine skin, and Jesus said if you have an old wine skin, and you introduce brand new fermented wine to the old wine skin, that skin is too worn. It can't handle it. He said the result is going to be the skin will burst, the wine will splatter all over the floor, and you not only can enjoy the wine, now you've got a wine skin that is completely torn.

Both are destroyed. Up next, the second half of today's 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 right now, as we begin to emerge from one of the most uncertain times in our generation, your support is even more critical today. So many listening to our program have been left with questions that only God's word can help answer. So as God leads, would you prayerfully consider making a gift to Destin for Victory today, so that we can continue to share the hope that is only found in Jesus? Well, there's no doubt that God wants to do something brand new in our lives, but He can only do it when we surrender to His will and His way. Here's Pastor Paul with the rest of today's Destin for Victory message, Storm Proof Your Life. So, he's making the point that God is up to something brand new in our lives, and we've got to surrender to Him to the level where we say, God, I'm going to let you do whatever it is you plan to do, and I want you to know that there cannot be the matching of the old and the new.

Well, let me illustrate it this way. Look at 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17, and you will see a statement many of us are familiar with, but I want you to understand it in the light of what God is doing in our lives in terms of making us new. 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 17, many are quite familiar with this verse, but let's look at it again. It says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has gone, the new has come. The new is a new that is radically different. In fact, in the Greek, there are two words that are most commonly translated new in English Bible translations. Both words are used in your Bible, and so you have to do a little word study to make sure you know which words are being spoken of. You know, Greek is a much more exacting language than English, and English will have a word that can mean any number of things depending on its context. Well, Greek separates those out and has different words, so when you see new in your New Testament, it could be one of two principal words. One word translated new is the Greek word naos. Naos, that word means new in time. New in time, a recent model, a recent version, a recent production, new in time.

Let me illustrate it this way. You can have an old car, an old hoopty, and say it's a Volkswagen Beetle. You have a Volkswagen Beetle, and it's quite old in time, in year of production, and you finally get your finances to a place where you say, you know what, I want to get myself a new car, and you can finally afford a new car.

You want to get out of your hoopty, and you go down to a Volkswagen dealership and say, I want to see your new Beetles, and you see them, and you trade in your old hoopty, and you say, give me whatever you can give me for this, and they look at it and say, oh, I'll give you $500 or something, and, you know, they just give you a little trade-in value, and then you go choose a new Beetle. That's new. That's naos, new in time. It's still a Volkswagen Beetle. It's just the latest model of that. That is not the word new spoken of in 2 Corinthians 5.17.

Here's why. Because God is not interested in introducing a new version of the same old you to the world. The world doesn't need an updated version of you.

When you get saved, God is not trying to make you the Christian version of the old you. When you buy the Beetle, you trade in your hoopty Beetle, you buy a brand new Beetle, but it's still a Beetle. It will never be a Bentley.

Right? Beetle is great for what a Beetle's great for, and you like that little, you like the gas mileage, and you like the little round look and all of that, so you got your naos Beetle, your new version of a Beetle, but it's still a Beetle. Does what it does, great car.

If you ever ride in a Bentley, that's a different thing altogether. That is the Greek word kenas, kenas. It is the word that doesn't mean new in time. It means new in kind. It means a different kind of thing. It means so new that you are unfamiliar with it. You have no frame of reference for it.

You've never experienced anything like it. That's kenas. The Bible says if anyone be in Christ, he or she is a kenas, is new in kind. God is making us people who when he gets through with us, you won't even recognize yourself.

The people who knew you won't recognize you. Your values are different. Your style is different. Your instincts are different.

Your desires are different. God is through his word changing and transforming your life so that you are unfamiliar and unaccustomed to what God is doing in your life. That's why we have to learn to walk by faith and not by sight because where God has taken us, we've never been before. What he's making out of us, we have never been before. God is not trying to make a Christian version of the old you.

God is not making us a newer beetle. He is making us into something that we will not even recognize ourselves because of his great work within us. And so in order to do this, you've got to open yourself to God so completely that you allow him to move in your life in ways he has never moved before and accomplish his purpose that has never been accomplished in you before. God will completely change the way we make our decisions.

He will completely change the way we set our priority. He will completely change our world view, our perspective when we build our lives on his word, our perspective becomes one that we are completely unfamiliar with in our past life. God is doing a really new thing in us.

Now, in order to do this, we've got to be open, so open to him to allow everything to become new so that we experience what he is really doing in our lives. If you are a Christian single and you're used to navigating in this world with your old mindset, God is now not trying to make you a slightly more Christian or religious version of the old you. God does not want you walking through this world looking for a new beetle. See, when you drop off your old girlfriend, your old boyfriend because they're not making you happy, if you're still the same essential person you were, all you're going to do is drop off this beetle and go get a new one. And a lot of us don't understand why our lives aren't getting anywhere. We keep going around the same mountain and can't figure out why.

We're not making progress because there's nothing new about you. You still think you got to have somebody in your life and you still think a raggedy somebody is better than nobody. So you keep on, soon as this one leaves, you see this void, and your carnal mind says, I have to fill this void. Now, when you become the kinase that God is making you, you will realize that your life is full when Jesus is in it. And when you follow him, he'll teach you that the first person you got to fall in love with is me. And he'll teach you to fall in love with him and to walk with him and to let him be the lover of your soul. And let him build your life from the inside out. Let him help you understand that you don't need some raggedy person to affirm you, that he is the one who tells you who you are.

When I'm naos, I'm just looking for a new version of the same old mistakes I made. And so when I am kinase, I'm saying, no, Lord, you made me new. I don't need anybody that you haven't ordained in my life.

So you're going to teach me to love you, walk with you, fellowship with your people, enjoy my life, love myself, be defined by your word and your word alone. Don't you let somebody come into your life to light it up and define you. If they define you, they own the dictionary. If they light up your life, they own the light bulb. And as soon as you get on their nerves, they will unscrew their light bulb.

They will take their dictionary and they will walk out. And there you are undefined and dark and lonely singing sad songs because you don't understand that that's naos. That's you getting a new version of the same old mistakes you've always made, bringing the wrong people into your life. But kinase, God is trying to make you such a new person until when someone doesn't fit his plan and purpose for you, when they are not in your life to help you become more like Christ, when they are not an asset that is helping you do the will of God, when they keep trying to pull you away from your biblical values and pull you away from your life of biblical morality, you can know this person isn't for me.

You just know it. You don't have to pray fast or anything. And some of you all know right now, as soon as you surrender to letting God make you a kinase, a new creation, you're going to see instantly this person has no business in my life.

I don't have to pray about it or anything. All I have to do is have the boldness to say to them in the words of that great theologian Paul Simon, slip out the back, Jack. Make a new plan, Stan. You don't have to be coy, Roy. I'm getting myself free. Hop on the bus, Gus.

I don't have to discuss much. Drop off the key, Lee. I'm making myself free. Oh yes, secular music will preach sometimes. Listen, you got to understand, God is up to something brand new in your life. He's trying to teach you, you don't need some raggedy person in your life just to fill time and void. You are a person of divine purpose and order. God is up to something in your life. He's making a masterpiece out of your life and you can't be fooling around with folk who are going nowhere, who don't have their sights set on the Lord Jesus. So you just got to make up in your mind, I'm going to go with God and let him do what he is doing in my life. Do you believe God is up to something good in your life?

That he has a purpose and a plan to do something brand new? If you're struggling with an idea today, if you feel as though the mistakes of your past disqualify you from having a God-ordained future, the Destined for Victory ministry team wants to help you see the truth of God's promise and plan for your life. We're always here to pray for you. If you have a request, please log on to pastorpaul.net. Click Contact Us and share what's on your heart. And when you stop by, be sure to ask for Pastor Paul's monthly letter of encouragement. Has the Destined for Victory broadcast been a blessing to you? If so, Pastor Paul would like to invite you to send a special gift today to help him keep sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ all over the world. Destined for Victory is a listener-supported ministry, one that depends on your prayers and financial support to reach the world for Christ.

For your gift this month, we have a gift of our own to share with you. It's Pastor Paul's booklet, Built on a Solid Foundation. Jesus never told us we could avoid life storms, only that with his help, we could withstand them. The key is the foundation upon which your life is built. Teaching from Matthew chapter 7, Pastor Paul explains the importance of building your foundation on the Word of God, and he describes the blessings that come from leading that kind of life. That's Built on a Solid Foundation, a booklet from Pastor Paul, and our gift to you today by request for your generous gift to Destined for Victory. Just call us at 855-339-5500 to give your gift over the phone, or visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online.

Or mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, CA 94538. The first place they're going to see Jesus is in you. Before you can get them to church, before you can get them to hear the Word, they're going to have to see Jesus in you.

There's going to have to be something attractive enough that makes them want to see, let me go where you go. That's next time in Pastor Paul's message, Storm Proof Your Life. Until then remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.