Enjoying the Favor of God (cont'd)

Let me use the word favor, f-a-v-o-r, and just use each of those letters to let you know something about favor. When God gives them favor, first of all, he is giving them fruitfulness. You're listening to Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd, Senior Pastor at Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California.

Thanks for making this part of your day. Favor is the undeserved benevolence of God. In his sovereignty and good will toward his children, God chooses to show kindness even when we haven't earned it. Today you'll see how God gave favor to the church at Philadelphia, the sixth of seven churches to whom God sent messages through the Apostle John.

Along the way, you'll be reminded that he often grants favor to you and me as well. Stay with us here, or stop by pastorpaul.net to listen on demand. That's pastorpaul.net. Now, from the book of Revelation, here's Pastor Paul with today's Destined for Victory message, Enjoying the Favor of God.

Bigger is not better. We need to understand that in the church world. These days God has me ministering in a lot of pastors' conferences and teaching leaders in the body of Christ around the country. And, you know, one of the things I see that I'm being used of God to do is to help people understand your church doesn't have to grow large necessarily to be fruitful. Fact of the matter is, not every church is called to grow large.

Now, a lot of folks don't understand that. They're busy reading books that are telling them, unless you're exploding in growth, God is not really working through you or something's wrong with your ministry, not necessarily so. Fact of the matter is God has called some churches to grow large because a large church can have a certain type of impact. They have the size budget and they have the size staff and they have the numbers of people who can run different ministries. And certain churches, God can bless them in significant ways as a result of their growth. But the fact of the matter is there are other churches God has called to be neighborhood or community churches.

They're not going to grow very large, but God still says, I want you to be fruitful. Fact of the matter is God loves people too much to make every church large. Because some people would never let you disciple them in a large church. They're turned off by the numbers.

They just freeze when they see a whole lot of people. And they would never work their way into the life of the church and learn how to become fully devoted followers of Christ. There are four kinds of churches. Churches that are large and healthy, churches that are large and unhealthy, churches that are small and healthy, churches that are small and unhealthy.

In other words, size is not necessarily a factor as to whether or not you're healthy. Because you can be a healthy small church, you can be a healthy large church and that ought to be our goal. To be fruitful however God's called us. I know what it is to pastor every size from 34 now all the way up to thousands and growing rapidly.

But the fact of the matter is I'm here to pronounce bigger is not better, it's just bigger. If God gives you the calling to grow large as he has called us, he told us we're going to win thousands. I don't know how many thousands more are coming but how many ever he wants us to reach. We're going to pray and we're going to work and we're going to proclaim the gospel and trust God that he will bring those people into the kingdom.

But that's our calling. We have grace to be a large growing church that maintains our focus on biblical priorities so that we can remain healthy. We're making sure people have opportunities to get in the community, in the small groups, in the ministry teams and to connect with other people so that you can be a true part of the family of God and not just come into a mass of people. When a church is large and healthy they make sure that there are ways that you can get connected with other folks. Because church is about community. But the fact of the matter is there are some people who will never come to a large church.

As soon as they see numbers they are turned off. So God raises up healthy smaller churches where you can go parking won't be an issue. You can just go pull right up next to the church. First church I pastored here in California you can just pull in, pull it right there.

Take a few steps man, you were in. And some people like it that way. That's the way they roll. They don't want to feel like they're going to a stadium when they're going to a church.

They don't appreciate all that walking and what have you. So God raises up smaller churches that can reach them. They have limited budget and limited numbers of fellowship. But if churches will connect with one another, I spend time with pastors of much smaller churches in my area. We have lunch together and talk about the kingdom of God together because we need to be connected one with another.

If I have somebody who needs a smaller environment I can refer them to a friend who will help teach them to become fully devoted followers of Christ. That's the way it ought to be. It's about fruitful. It's not about success in terms of numbers. We care about numbers. God cares about fruit. Now he loves people and so he'll call some churches to grow large and some to grow very small.

And as he takes you to different levels of what he's called you to do, he'll give you the grace for that level. I now have the grace to lead this size church. But there was a day when we couldn't even imagine raising a couple of hundred thousand dollars was a big test of our faith.

Oh, I'll never forget. We were trying to build our first little facility. The whole budget for the facility was going to cost six hundred thousand and that looked astronomical to the handful of people. Couple of hundred of us and we believing for raising hundreds of thousands of dollars over and above the tithes and offerings.

And we were stretching our faith believing God but he was faithful and he blessed us to do it. These days you can't think in terms of hundreds of thousands. These days it's multiplied millions of dollars.

But guess what? The same God who showed us he was faithful when we were believing him for six hundred thousand dollars is the same God we serve today. The budget of the first church I came to, the whole church budget for the whole year was sixty thousand dollars. When they first called me to be the pastor they said our budget is sixty thousand dollars. We're believing God to help us raise that this year and your salary is going to come out of that. I said, oh, God, help him to raise it, Jesus. Oh, Lord.

I have a wife and two children, Jesus, help us now. And he blessed them to raise it. He taught me how to walk by faith. In Philadelphia I preached on walking by faith. When I got to California I started walking by faith. I had to learn to believe God every single month.

Absolutely true. Every month I had to believe God. Every month there was too much month at the end of the money. But I found out that if you'll just be fruitful God will bless you. The F stands for fruitful. The A stands for access. Access. By opening the door in front of them he was giving them access to some things. You know when you open a door, once you unlock a door and open it, it gives you access to whatever is beyond that door. And God said to this church, I'm going to give you access to some things.

He doesn't have to spell out what it is, it applied to them. But the fact of the matter is by principle it applies to all of us. When God gives his favor to you, he's going to give you access to some things. If you'll just seek first the kingdom of God, the things you need, the Lord will give you access to them. Oh, I found that to be so as I've walked with God. You don't have to worry about God. He knows how to open up doors for his people and to bless us with access. There's some things that you have been wanting God to do for your life and all you got to do is be faithful to him and please him in the way that this church did.

And he says, I will give you access to some things. You remember in the Old Testament, I mean there's story after story that could make this point in your Bible. I often reference Joseph, one of my favorite Old Testament characters because I'm amazed. Can you imagine becoming the second in command in a country in Egypt and you're not even an Egyptian?

Talk about access. Here was Joseph sold out by his brothers, sold into a foreign country. He becomes a slave in a man's house. He rises through the ranks through the blessing and favor of God. Then he becomes the chief valet in that man's house. That man's wife starts trying to seduce him.

He has character and resists the seduction and for all of his trouble, he gets charged with attempted rape, which was a lying charge. And he goes to jail for years for a crime he did not commit, but the favor of God was on him anyway. Listen, don't look at your circumstances trying to figure out whether God is favoring you.

Sometimes all hell is breaking out in your life, but the favor of God is resting on you and he's just waiting for an appointed time so he can give you access to some things. Years later, after he has been a blessing to people in jail, he has interpreted dreams for the Pharaoh's butler and baker. The baker's interpretation meant he was going to die in three days, but the butler's meant he was going to be restored to his job and he would once again serve the Pharaoh. And Joseph had asked him, when you get back into the Pharaoh's house, would you remember me to the Pharaoh?

But you know what happened. The Bible says the butler forgot all about him. We'll be right back with more of today's Destined for Victory message from Pastor Paul Shepherd. To listen to any of Pastor Paul's recent broadcasts, be sure to stop by pastorpaul.net any time to listen on demand.

That's pastorpaul.net where you can contact us for prayer or make a safe and secure donation to the ministry online. And if you live long enough, someone will let you down, maybe even someone you care about. The question is, how will you respond? Here's Pastor Paul with the rest of today's message, enjoying the favor of God. Listen, some of y'all are mad because some people have let you down. Some people have forgotten all about you. It doesn't matter in the long run whether those folk remember you or care for you.

If you have the favor of God resting on your life, that's all that matters. And he had to wait two more years after the Pharaoh's butler got back to working for the Pharaoh, two more years before the fullness of time came. But I love that when that day came that Pharaoh had his dream, couldn't interpret it. And he called all the folk in his kingdom who normally interpret dreams, none of them had a word.

And there's the butler standing there next to him. Suddenly, he remembers Joseph because Pharaoh is saying, who can interpret this dream I've had? And he's standing there and he said, oh, oh, King, there is a man in jail, if he's still alive.

That's not in the Bible, I just put that in. There's a man in jail, he can interpret your dream. Pharaoh said, go get him. Joseph comes up, interprets the dream.

You know the story. The dream meant that there was gonna be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. And Joseph gave him a word of wisdom.

He said, you need to make sure to store up in the years of plenty so that you can thrive during the years of famine. And Pharaoh said, well, if that's the case, then I'm gonna need someone wise to oversee this massive project. And he looked at Joseph, a Canaanite, felon. Just got out of jail, long term prison. He looked at a non-Egyptian felon and said, you are now second in command in Egypt, no one is greater here except me.

Listen, if God gives you access, only time will tell what he's gonna do for your life. He blessed them with fruitfulness, he blessed them with access. The V stands for vindication. Vindication. You will notice in the passage that he said there's some people of the synagogue of Satan, we saw that earlier in our study, that it references Jews who fought vehemently against the church of Jesus Christ, who denied vehemently that Jesus was the Messiah.

And so they're called in Revelation a synagogue of Satan because they were opposed to God and opposed to the Messiah and fought against the church. And he said, these people have made your life hell. He said, but I'm gonna bring them to a place where they come fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Listen, favor sometimes manifests itself in vindication. That's why you gotta keep on loving people and don't get bent out of shape over your haters. Haters are par for the course. When you're doing anything good, you're gonna have some people who don't like you. They don't like what God's doing in your life. Then some people are just gonna cop a big time attitude. Do not try to get through this life without haters.

You can't make it. If everybody likes you, you ought to be good and worried. If everybody likes you, it means that you're not doing enough for God to make some folk mad.

You really ought to smile when folk finally start rolling their eyes all up in the back of their head. That means you're up to something good. God is beginning a good work in you.

Good enough to make some people nervous and jealous and mad and they start sending emails about you and start Twittering and Tweeting about you and all that old stuff. That's what you want. You want to get to a place where people are upset because God is doing something in your life. Now, you don't go around trying to make folk upset.

Don't overwork this point now. Bible says, live in peace with all men. You ought to be trying your best to be friendly and live in peace with folk. But just know that as you're doing that, some people are gonna resent what God is doing in your life. But here you find God says, don't worry about it. Those people who have been plotting against you and hating you and making your life hell, he said, I'm gonna bring them to a place where they have to acknowledge that I've loved you. And every now and then you'll see God give you vindication. I've seen that happen in my life in ministry. And you'll see it happen in your life that God will bring some people who worked very hard against you for a while.

They will realize suddenly that if God before you, who can be against you, and God will vindicate something. That's why you shouldn't fight your own battles. Don't get mad. Don't get upset. Don't lose sleep over your enemies.

Never let them see you sweat. Give them over to God. Keep on doing what you're doing and trust God for the day and time when he will bless you with vindication. Favor also means the O stands for opportunities. He gave them fruitfulness, access, vindication, and number four, opportunities.

Opportunities. God will bless you with some unexpected blessing. You ever been blessed out the clear blue?

You ever had God just show up? You never saw it coming and he just hit you with a blessing. That's because you've been seeking first the kingdom. You haven't been seeking the blessing. Now the Bible gives us the privilege to pray for blessing, but really it tells you to seek the kingdom and seek his righteousness. And then it says the things you need, God will hook you up.

That's the Paul Sheppard version of Matthew 633. Unexpected blessing. That's what happened to the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings. You remember for years she was a married woman who I'm sure desired, actively desired, perhaps even prayed to be a mother.

But for many years that prayer went unanswered. So what did she do? She stayed focused on doing the will of God. When she would see the property life should come through town and notice that he didn't have anywhere to stay. She was a woman of means. She had money. She told her husband, honey, let's build a house, an extension on our house so that this man of God can have somewhere to stay when he comes to town. What she doing?

She's focusing on the kingdom. Instead of sweating, I'm mad at God. He never did answer my prayer to give me a child. He know they talking about me in the marketplace because, you know, in those days it was disgrace to be a married woman and not bear your husband a child, especially a son. And they put all the blame on the woman. They didn't understand that it really wasn't her issue. That's too deep. I don't have time to go into that. But some of y'all feel me though.

I can tell you feel me. It really wasn't her issue. The issue was with Brahman. So now, so anyway, she's doing the will of God. She builds this extension on the house and the man of God is free to come in there and have somewhere to stay when he comes to town. One day, unctionized by the Holy Spirit, he says to his servant, go ask that woman, tell her she's been so kind to us, what can we do for her? And when the servant asked the question, she's so focused on the kingdom, you can tell she's no longer worried about the fact that she's never had a child. So when the question is asked, what can be done for her, she can't even think of anything. She said, well, you know, I have a home among my people. In other words, it's all good.

God's blessing me. The servant had to go back and tell Elisha. Well, she says she can't think anything, but I know that she doesn't have a child.

And you know her husband old. See, he didn't even have to go into anymore. He knew the prayer request at that point. He like, if you look in the work of miracle, I think you got your opportunity. And the word of the Lord came into Elisha's mouth and he said, tell that woman this time next year, she'll be bouncing a baby boy. And just as God said, it was so.

Every now and then God will open up a door of opportunity for you. He'll just bless you in an unexpected way. Finally, the R stands for rest.

Rest. He told this church, he said, the world is going to go through certain things. They're going to go through a trial. They're going to be tested.

The whole earth will be tested. He said, but because you've been true to me, I'm going to keep you from the hour of trial. And some things I'm going to let you rest while other people are sweating through and working through and dealing with this trial.

I'm going to put you in a place where I give you perfect rest, where you are removed from the trauma and the severity of that test. And let me tell you something every now and then God will bless you with his favor in the form of rest. Have you ever had God just let you rest during a time of turmoil, everybody else losing their mind, everybody else trying to figure out what in the world is going on.

Everybody else trying to see how they can survive economic tough times. Everybody else is fighting and fussing and clamoring and all of that. But God has you in a place. He has put you in the cleft of the rock and he's covered you there with his hand.

And he said, no weapon formed against you will prosper. Whenever you need something, I'll bless you. And in the meantime, I'm going to let you enjoy my rest. And God will just let you rest through a season that normally you'd be losing your mind. Everybody else around you is sweating and going through changes, but God is keeping you in perfect peace. And I tell you what, that kind of rest is golden. Because it's not just a rest of your body, it's a rest of your spirit.

It's a rest of your mind, your emotions, your very soul is at rest. I'm troubling you because your trust is in God. Your expectation is from him and you are just chilling out in Jesus name.

And I want to let you know, you might not be popular. You might not be in the who's who clique, but if you are living to please God, if you're true to his word, he says, I'll bless you with favor. And I'm believing God that as you continue to be faithful to him, you will enjoy the favor of God in your life. Thanks so much for being here for today's Destined for Victory message, Enjoying the Favor of God.

Before we let you get on with your busy Thursday, Pastor Paul Shepherd joins me from a studio in California. Pastor, earlier this month, you reminded us of the importance of honoring our mothers by sharing a special two-part series in praise of godly women. Tell us why those messages might be more important in our culture today than ever before. I think affirmation and honor for moms and mother figures is somewhat difficult to find these days. People seem to be so preoccupied with themselves and their plans and their future that they don't look backwards and see that if it weren't for moms and mother figures, they would not be where they are. So I'm hoping to help people rediscover the value of honoring and affirming moms and mother figures. You know, the Proverbs says, who can find a virtuous woman? Well, these days, I kind of think the better question is who can find a kid or a dad who has sense enough to praise the mom? And we've really got to understand that she plays an invaluable role. Even people who had challenging relationships with their moms or mother figures need to realize God used them in a significant way to get you to the place.

Even if you think you're living so much better and you have so much higher set of values or whatever, you'd have never had the chance to show that if they hadn't gotten you to the place where you could be better. So we need to honor moms. I'm hoping that people will really get that and they take advantage of this month's resource. If you missed those messages, or if you'd like to hear them again, visit pastorpaul.net to listen on demand. In praise of godly women aired from May 3 to May 6.

That's pastorpaul.net. And speaking of mothers and mother figures who had a positive influence in her lives, Pastor Paul has a special gift for you this month, yours for your generous donation to Destin for Victory. It's a booklet called Traits of a Virtuous Woman. Based on Proverbs 31, the booklet was written to honor mothers in particular and godly women in general. It's a penetrating look into some of the most important traits all women should embody and a great companion guide to Pastor Paul's messages earlier this month.

Again, it's called Traits of a Virtuous Woman. And it's our gift to you today by request for your generous gift to Destin for Victory. So call 855-339-5500 or visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. You can also mail your gift to Destin for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California 94538.

Again, our address is Destin for Victory, Box 1767, Fremont, California 94538. Always remember that when the Lord sends a word like this, it is a word of correction and admonishment. It is not a word of condemnation. God is not condemning us. He is trying to rebuke and discipline us.

In fact, we just read it. He said, it's only out of my love that I'm rebuking you. That's tomorrow in Pastor Paul Shepherd's message, The Church That Made God Sick. Until then remember, He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.