Assessing the S.H.A.P.E. You're In, Part 1 (cont'd)

That's what God's called you to do. Quit trying to be other folk.

You're going to fail miserably. You were born an original. Don't die a copy. If you're like most of us, you've tried to mimic other people from time to time. Parents, mentors, coaches, pastors.

You see the way they do what they do and you try to do it the same way. But the great thing about you is that you're the only you there is. Well, today Pastor Paul has three questions that will help you identify your unique gifts and abilities in Christ. Stay with us here or download the podcast on demand at pastorpaul.net, at Spotify, or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.

Here's Pastor Paul. What do I excel at doing? Number two, what abilities am I best known for among my family members and friends? Sometimes it's worth it to check out with other folks. What do you all see me being really good at doing? Now, don't ask your enemies.

They're not trying to help you, but the people who love you say, you know, help me. I'm trying to do right now, my pastor's teaching on giving God a good return and I'm trying to get a sense of my abilities. What do you see me as being really good at doing?

And listen to what they have to say. It could be some areas you haven't really thought about, putting more time and effort into, but it would be worth it. And the third question is, what were my favorite subjects in school or as I've studied on my own? In some cases, schooling, you saw your aptitude, you saw where you were drawn and where you had the ability to excel. And so you need to pay attention to that. There are some areas where you naturally are good at what other folks struggle with.

We all have some areas that it's not even work to you. And other folks sweating and praying. Oh Lord, help me pass this test.

But in that area, you don't even have to pray. Just take the exam. Oh man, that was easy. I remember back in school, some of y'all remember in school or in college, and you come out sweating, beads of sweat all over. And you got some old raggedy classmate just standing out there like nothing ever happened. And you say, hey, how'd you do? Oh man, that was easy.

And you're thinking, I was in there praying for a word of knowledge. So you have those areas. What were your favorite subjects? Look at them. P stands for personality. Personality. Now remember, go back to Psalm 139, 14. The psalmist said, I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. His works are wonderful.

I know that fool well. That pertains not only to your ability, that pertains to your personality. God gave you uniqueness in terms of your personality. I look a lot at temperaments. I believe there are four basic temperaments. As I look at human construction by God's divine design, I see that there are four basic temperaments and then there are blends. Most people are not 100% a single temperament. Most people are blends. So there are like 12 primary blends of temperaments where somebody has a predominant temperament and someone has a secondary temperament. And it makes up the uniqueness of who you are.

Coupled with your life experiences and with your upbringing and your education and all the other factors, it makes you very unique. Four temperaments. Sanguine. Some of y'all are sanguine. Sanguines are the most extroverted people on the planet.

Those are the people who are the loudest, the most talkative. You know a sanguine. Everybody in here knows some sanguines because they enter a room mouth first.

You hear them before you see them. Sanguines. Wonderful people. I love sanguines.

But you got to understand yourself. If you're in a small group, you got sanguines in there, you got at least one or two in there because the leader has to constantly say, now who else has something to say? Because the sanguine is always jumping in there. And they're not thinking they're hogging the time.

The time is just natural. But a good leader has to rein them in and say, all right, now let's give somebody else a chance. I want to hear from so and so. And so the sanguine will sit over there for a minute and then they come back out with something more. Great people.

You just got to understand. My daddy was a sanguine. Daddy was a sanguine. Man, that man just loved talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. Just left a whole day with people.

Now you come home, get on the phone with them. That was just him. Just loved.

He loved to talk to people all the time hanging out. Sanguines. Great people. They have strengths and they have weaknesses. They tend to be in some areas rather undisciplined.

So if you're primarily sanguine, you got to watch that tendency to be undisciplined. Peter, I believe Peter, one of the disciples of Christ, I believe he was sanguine when I read about him on a page of the scripture. Because when Jesus asks a question, Peter always answering.

Who do men say that I am? You are the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus said, thank you very much, Peter.

You happened to get that one right. But sometimes he spoke up and he was wrong. But he's still talking. Remember the night that Jesus was to be betrayed? Peter's the one talking. Oh man, things not looking too good here, Jesus.

I think something about to go down. If he's black, he said something fitting to happen. He said, but I tell you what, while these other clowns you picked are going to leave you, I'm going to be with you.

It's going to be me and you. All right, you good? I said, Simon, Simon, Satan had called your name specifically and asked for permission to shake your life violently. Jesus said, but I prayed for you that your faith doesn't fail. And when you're converted, spend the rest of your life strengthening your brothers.

And again, I'm going down with you. And Jesus just finished telling him, when you have your worst failure in your life and God blesses you to recover from it, spend the rest of your life helping other people. Peter didn't know what it meant, but hours later he did.

When they had arrested Jesus and they started looking for all his followers. And somebody saw him said, has one of them? The same Peter who hours before, I got you man, I'm with you. He's like, I don't know what you talking about. I don't know no Jesus. In fact, the third time, a little girl said, that's one of his followers.

Peter said, let me prove to them I don't know him. He cursed. Bible says he swore. Don't y'all think that's the wrong swearing? That's not the court swearing.

That's the kind you did before you got saved and some still struggling with now. Come on, let's be honest. No future in front.

Some of y'all don't have the swearing victory yet. Right thing happened to you. What the blank you talking about? That's what Peter did. He's I bet they believe I'm not a follower now.

I don't know what that little blank blank girl problem is. He better check us out. Second temperament is choleric. Those are the strong natural leaders. They're somewhat extroverted.

Not as extroverted as saying when someone, strong natural leader, strong willed people. You don't have to worry about what a choleric thinks because they're going to tell you. If you're on a committee with a choleric, you never have to say, what do you think about this? They already told you. And they did it, no chaser.

I know that they did it. Tell them, well, you're pastored by one. Cholerics are like, that's stupid. Just like the same one has to learn disciplines, we have to learn to watch what we say and how we say it. Cause my first thought is that's so dumb.

You going crack, where you come up with something like that? That's the way we roll. Gotta pray for us. Stay with more of today's Destined for Victory message from Pastor Paul Shepard. Remember you can listen to the broadcast anytime on demand at pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net where you'll also find a host of great resources in our online store. Now stay with us after today's message when Pastor Paul joins me in the studio. But first let's listen to some good advice about how to find and use your unique gifts and abilities in Christ. Here again is Pastor Paul with the rest of today's message, Assessing the Shape You're In.

Paul, the apostle Paul, I am sure was choleric. When Barnabas came to him, they get ready to do the second missionary journey, Acts chapter 15, and Barnabas said, all right, man, get ready to go get a John Mark and we'll be back here and we'll be ready to leave at three o'clock. Paul said, stop the presses. He's not going. Barnabas said, what do you mean he's not going? Paul said, what's the matter with your memory?

Don't you know he left us on the first trip? I ain't going back out there with somebody can't even handle no rough time, got to go running back home to his mama? Somebody got time for that?

He was the original Sweet Brown. Ain't nobody got time for that. And Barnabas tried to talk him into it but couldn't because when we have our minds made up until we learn the finesse, that's part of the growth. You learn. I'm learning. I'm doing pretty good in some of those areas, still working on it, still praying, but you learn how to round it out because you can't just shoot everything and everybody down all the time. You'd be standing there by yourself. Everybody else dead. You shot them all.

All laid out, all the casualties, this all out. So we have to learn to give people a chance and learn and your own experience will help you with that because the more you get in touch with your own weaknesses, the more you can learn how to be compassionate toward other people. But Paul, he couldn't be talked into it at that point in his life and they did two different expressions of the second missionary journey because Paul refused to let John Mark go with him. So he got a new companion, Silas, and Barnabas, who's a son of encouragement, said we got to give this young man another chance.

So he took him and they did their own version of the second missionary journey. And so you got sanguines, you got calyrex, then you got melancholy. Those are the touchy-feely people. They're so in touch with their emotions. They're so in touch with their senses and their feelings and their perceptions. And I just feel, they start the sentences, would I feel? Wonderful people.

The world would be colorless without melancholy. They bring in the artistic. They bring in the aesthetic.

They bring those little colors and dimensions and all of that to it, but they can drive you crazy too. Some of y'all you know, your family loves you, but there are times when they just look at you, you see them, they just shaking their head. Because everything for you, you don't major in facts and logic. You major in feelings and perceptions. I don't know, I just feel like we need to go and... See some of y'all, I see hands testifying. I see the testimonies all out in the... Now listen, here's the thing you got to learn. You got to learn that we need both the facts and the perceptions.

You have all factual people, you're going to run into some problems. Because some things at the end of the day are not logical in nature. But if you have all melancholy, you got a really big problem too. Because they will feel themselves to death.

So you got to learn the blend. That's why fortunately opposites attract. And typically, you know, a sanguine isn't married to another sanguine. Everybody will be talking, nobody will be listening.

Calerics don't typically marry other calerics because it would just be a fight to the finish. And melancholy typically don't hook up with other melancholy because everybody feeling nobody is working on... John, the apostle John who wrote the book of the Revelation as well as the Gospel of John and the epistles of John. John, I believe with all my heart as I read about him in Scripture, he was a melancholy.

You see the feelings come through. Now he's writing anointed, God-breathed Scripture. But God didn't take people's personalities out just because he used them to write the Scripture. So you can read the Scriptures and you can see the different temperaments.

Read Peter's epistle. Be like, if you're suffering for writing, just go ahead and do it. God is going to give you grace. What's the problem? Just make sure you ain't suffering for being a murderer or doing something wrong.

If you're suffering for that, you brought that on yourself. Peter, sanguine, got something to say about it. John, what's he writing? I write unto you little children that you love one another. See what I'm saying? We need them both.

Need them both. If you have all Peter epistles and no John epistles, all you get is tough stuff, talking too much, and you don't get any of the perception and the love. But if you have all John's stuff, that's going to be a problem too. Because John was the disciple who felt comfortable enough to lay on Jesus while they were reclined. The Bible says he had his head on Jesus. And the Peter types look at that and say, hey, hey, hey, hey.

Come on, you know, the Peters and the Calerics both would look at that and say, yo, yo, tell him to get up. Bad enough, 13 guys hanging out by ourselves anyway. Everybody done left their wives home, following Jesus. Yo, messing with my message. Just different temperaments, we need them all. And then phlegmatics are the fourth basic temperament. Phlegmatics, those are the most introverted people on earth. Phlegmatics rarely get excited, visibly excited. When a phlegmatic gets excited, take note something is happening. Phlegmatic, everybody else can be, whoa, look at that body. Phlegmatic say, hmm.

Nice. They're real chilled out, laid back, calm, collected. What's all the fuss? It's okay. We're going to be all right. Why y'all talking so loud? That's the phlegmatics, man.

We need them. With all the loud folk around, you need somebody to bring the calm. Barnabas was a phlegmatic, I'm sure. Bible called him the son of encouragement.

Phlegmatics, rather than talking a big game and talking to a whole bunch of folk, they'd rather not get in the mic and talk to a bunch of... A phlegmatic would rather come alongside somebody and say, hey, man, I know you messed up that last time, but you're going to kill it this time. You're going to do real good. Barnabas came along and said, come on, let's go back. I know you ran home scared of what was going on in the road the first time, ran home to your mama, but you're going to be better this time. So you got to understand your personality, and most of us, like I said, are not one. We're predominantly one of those four, and then we're secondarily some other things that help bring some other elements to our lives. Get to know who you are. Read up on temperaments.

Timbaland Hay and others have written some great books over the years on temperaments. Get to know them. Get to know yourself. When you identify yourself, they also will help you see both your strengths and your weaknesses.

See, that's the good thing about it. It's not like one group wins and the others lose. All of them have strengths. All of them have weaknesses. Phlegmatic's weaknesses are they got to learn to make a decision.

They can just sit there forever and look at it. I've been on committees with Phlegmatic. Yo, yo, yo, what you going to do? Experiences. God wants to use your experiences.

I'll pick it up next message right at this point, but let me just give you this basic information, and now I'll fill in the blanks as we go. Romans 8 28 says God uses all things, causes them all to work together for good. What does that mean? That means both your positive and negative experiences, God is going to work them together, and that's going to be part of how he has shaped you to serve people. So we'll look at some passages that confirm that, but I just want to let you know that God is the ultimate recycler.

He knows how to take what has gone on, even if it seems bad. He recycles everything. He recycles everything.

Nothing gets wasted in God's economy. You have a shameful part of your past. God says, I'm a shake the shame out of it so that it doesn't render you unable to do anything. I'll keep you from feeling like your life is a waste.

And he says, I will use it. Some of you have had some horrific experiences in your past. God says, I don't want you to bury them and act like they didn't happen. Let me heal you through it. And then let me use it as part of your testimony, because I must send somebody to you who needs to know where you've been, because they're there and they're full of shame and they don't know that they can survive it. But God's going to send you to come alongside.

So let me tell you a little story. God wastes nothing. And just when you need to know he can bring you out of anything.

He'll send somebody to you who he's already brought out of some things. So God will use your experiences. That's some great advice from Pastor Paul Shepherd today. You were born an original.

Don't live like a copy. Thanks for joining us for today's Destined for Victory message, Assessing the Shape You're In. Pastor Paul joins me now from his studio in California. And Pastor, if the last 12 months have taught us anything, it's that storms, yes, even pandemics are going to touch our lives. Now, many listening today are dealing with the effects of a terrible time in our world and our heart, of course, goes out to them. So today we have a great resource that can help. But first, why don't you share a word of encouragement with us and how we can learn to navigate these storms?

Absolutely. In Matthew 7, and I know most Bible readers are very familiar with it, Jesus talks about the fact that there are two different ways you can build your life. And he says you can build like the guy who built his house on the sand, or you can build like the guy who builds on the rock. And the fact of the matter is I'm trying through this series and through this resource this month to help people understand storms are inevitable. And some people see that as as unfortunate.

I don't know that I do. Jesus just stated it quite matter of factly. He said storms are coming. I noticed this time when I was putting this booklet together, Jesus didn't hint anything about if you live right, you won't have to worry about storms.

You know, when I hear people preach like that, I'm like, what Bible are you are you preaching from? Jesus said storms are coming. He said the storm is going to blow on both types of houses.

The difference is the impact it has. And so if we will build right, we're going to see the ability of God to keep us even in the midst of storms like what we're all going through. And the time to prepare is before the storm comes. Absolutely.

Absolutely. The best time to prepare for any wars in the time of peace and the best time to prepare for a storm is right now. Because even if you're in one now, you need to retrofit and make sure your life is built firmly on the rock who is Jesus Christ because more storms are coming. But his plan is for us to endure and survive through them. Yeah, it reminds me of the age old question, when did Noah build the ark?

The answer, of course, is before the rain. Thanks for those words of encouragement, Pastor Paul. Well, at a time when our nation and our world are going through a few storms, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ remains a source of hope for all who embrace it.

And now more than ever, many are searching for that hope. And this is why your prayers and financial support of Destined for Victory is so critical. As our way of saying thanks for your generous donation, we'd like to send you the booklet Pastor Paul was just talking about, Built on a Solid Foundation.

Again, it's called Built on a Solid Foundation. This booklet from Pastor Paul is our gift to you today by request for your generous gift to Destined for Victory. Call 855-339-5500 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.

Again, the address is Destined for Victory, Box 1767, Fremont, CA 94538. Everything you've gone through, good and bad, God will take it and make it part of your testimony to share with the world. You need to understand that our experiences all count, positive and negative. That's next time in Pastor Paul Shepherd's message, Assessing the Shape You're In. Until then though, remember, He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.